n 


R  ANGERS  and&S 

SOVEREIGNTY 

B  y    D  A  N     W.     ROBERTS 

CAPTAIN  COMPANY  "D"  of  the  TEXAS  RANGERS 


WOOD  PRINTING  &,  ENGRAVING  CO. 

SAN  ANTONIO,  TEXAS 
1914 


Copyright  1914  by 
CAPT.  DAN  W.  ROBERTS 


Bancroft  Library 


Biographical  Sketch 

D.  W.  Roberts  was  born  in  the  State  of  Mississippi, 
in  Winston  County,  October  10th,  1841.  His  father, 
Alexander  Roberts,  came  to  Texas  in  1836,  and  helped 
the  Texans  fight  the  battles  of  the  Republic  for  nearly 
four  years,  being  in  many  engagements  with  the 
enemy,  the  most  noted  of  which  was  the  Plum  Creek 
fight,  which  has  gone  into  the  history  of  Texas. 

Soon  after  the  Plum  Creek  fight,  my  mother  pre- 
vailed on  father  to  take  his  family  to  some  place  of 
safety,  firmly  believing  that  wholesale  murder  would 
be  their  fate:  (Father's  judgment  was  waived)  and 
her  love  of  family  won  her  cause,  and  they  went  back 
to  Mississippi  in  1839. 

During  their  stay  in  Mississippi,  I  was  born,  mak- 
ing that  State  my  native  soil,  but  father's  love  for 
Texas  had  never  subsided,  and  his  turn  came  to  per- 
suade mother  back  to  Texas,  where  he  joined  his  old 
comrades  again  in  1843.  I  was  about  two  years  old 
when  they  returned  to  Texas. 

My  father  followed  up  the  frontier,  and  I  was 
reared,  and  almost  rocked  in  the  cradle  of  Texas  war- 
fare. When  I  was  a  small  boy,  I  developed  some  very 
peculiar  traits  of  character,  not  peculiarly  good,  but 
rather  strangely  peculiar. 

We  were  fond  of  dwelling  alone,  to  commune  with 
Nature's  beautiful  work.  I  had  my  favorite  pecan 
trees,  and  would  conceal  myself  under  them,  to  hear 
the  crows  murmur  to  each  other,  while  they  were 
gathering  the  splendid  nuts. 


My  father's  recital  of  early  Texas  battles  had  im- 
bued me  with  the  spirit,  that  those  old  Texans  were 
the  rightful  lords  of  that  grand  and  new  republic, 
and  that  their  heroism  should  be  sustained,  and  when 
I  grew  to  be  a  man,  that  I  would  devote  my  life  to 
the  cause  that  my  father  so  loved. 

In  my  boyish  dreams  I  was  always  in  command 
of  men.  My  education  was  limited  to  the  common 
English  branches.  As  I  grew  to  manhood,  I  could  see 
that  war  should  not  be  our  occupation,  but  the  con- 
stant raids  of  savage  foes  upon  Texas,  gave  us  the 
field  that  our  more  youthful  days  had  pictured  for 
us.  We  were  "put  in  command  of  men,"  and  our 
stewardship  will  follow.  Our  work  was  more  prepara- 
tory for  civil  government,  consequently  we  were  never 
a  politician,  but  always  adhered  to  democratic  prin- 
ciples. 


Contents 


Organization 15 

The  Deer  Creek  Fight 19 

Packsaddle  Mountain  Fight 29 

Enlistment  and  First  Scout 33 

Fugitive   List 39 

Lost  Valley  Fight 41 

Second  Saline  Fight 45 

"The  Wind  Up" 53 

Third  Saline  Fight : 57 

Moved  Camp  to  Las  Moras 61 

The  Staked  Plains  Fight 67 

Viewing  Out  a  Eoad 77 

Captain  Roberts  Married 81 

The  Mason  County  War 87 

Rio   Grande  Campaign 95 

On  the  March 105 

Fort  Davis  Scout 111 

The  Potter  Scout 117 

Waiting  on  the  Courts 121 

Pegleg  Stage  Robbing 125 

Stealing   Saddles ;___  131 

Cattle   Stealing 137 

Mavericks 141 

The  Killing  of  Sam  Bass 145 


Considering  Results 153 

Fence  Cutters 161 

Horrel  War 165 

The  Old  Texas  Rangers 171 

Adios  Rangers 179 

Old  Spanish  Fort 185 

Old  San  Antonio  Road 187 

A  New  Texas-  189 


Introduction 


We  set  out  in  this  writing  to  record  the  work  of 
Company  "D",  Frontier  Battalion,  not  for  any  selfish 
consideration.  But,  being  almost  importuned  by  our 
real  friends  to  do  so,  we  thought  we  could  tell  what 
we  really  know  to  be  true  in  a  way  that  might  spin 
out  a  thread  strong  enough  to  bind  together  an  in- 
telligent idea  of  the  needs  of  that  service,  how  the  ser- 
vice was  performed,  and  at  least  a  vision  of  the  final 
disposition  of  the  horrid  Indian  question.  Our  ego- 
tism doesn't  lead  us  to  say  that  Texas  did  it  all;  but 
our  little  part  is  richly  treasured  in  the  archives  of 
our  " native  heath" — Texas.  Our  sorrows  are  there, 
also,  in  many  a  grave  not  even  marked  by  human 
hands  to  show  where  our  brave  defenders  met  death — 
yielding  the  last  sacrifice  in  defense  of  Texas. 

We  challenge  the  world  to  produce  a  citizenship  or 
soldiery  more  loyal  to  home  and  country.  Our  oldest 
citizenship  were  "diamonds  in  the  rough"  and  no 
polish  has  ever  added  to  their  intrinsic  value.  The 
great  big  warm  hearts  of  their  sons  and  daughters 
needed  no  psychologist  to  interpret  their  spirit 
growth.  They  were  modestly,  and  innocently,  great 
from  birth.  When  * '  patent-leather  civilization ' '  over- 


12  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

took  them  they  were  ill  at  ease  to  embrace  its  gilded 
charms ;  but  reassurance  came  to  them  in  a  knowledge 
that  good  society  came  from  a  good  base. 

We  shall  abstain  from  politics,  religion  or  law,  only 
to  give  a  definition  of  politics,  offered  by  a  statesman, 
who  said:  "Politics  is  anything  pertaining  to  law.'' 
But  from  this  we  dissent,  and  offer  a  substitute : 
"Politics  is  anything  for  the  betterment  of  our  in- 
stitutions of  government. ' '  Religion  is  the  outgrowth 
of  moral  ethics,  but  Christianity  is  a  different  thing. 
Law  is  the  executive  branch  of  both  politics  and 
Christianity,  it  rather  seeks  shelter  under  Christ's 
precedents.  Some  may  say  that  these  great  questions 
have  no  analogy  to  the  subject;  but  a  great  state, 
trying  to  operate  a  government  under  their  power, 
must  have  a  cause  and  justification. 

We  had  to  meet  a  condition,  not  a  law,  of  savage 
atrocity.  We  could  not  apply  our  law  in  revenge, 
which  made  our  case  clearly  one  in  self  defense.  The 
State  of  Texas  realizing  this  could  only  operate  a 
force  within  state  lines.  The  Rangers  were  her 
militia,  as  the  name  "Ranger"  had  no  standing  in 
law.  It  came  to  us  more  from  tradition,  when  Texas 
was  a  republic,  and  is  dear  to  us  yet.  The  moral  force 
of  its  meaning  will  never  die  in  Texas. 

Texas  found  that  the  practical  acquisition  of  her 
frontier  furnished  an  asset  to  the  state,  which  vastly 
augmented  her  wealth.  The  live-stock  industry  easily 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  13 

copes  with  cotton,  sugar  and  rice,  on  a  basis  of  money 
value.  Her  fruits  and  cereals  only  supply  home  con- 
sumption. Her  truck  gardening  is  a  big  item  in  sup- 
plying all  our  early  markets.  And  can  we  claim  a 
modest  little  part  in  bringing  about  all  this?  We 
abide  the  answer  from  true  Texans. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  15 


Organization 


After  the  war  between  the  states,  the  first  Demo- 
cratic Governor  elected  in  Texas  was  Richard  Coke. 
The  citizens  of  Texas,  realizing  that  the  state  was 
over-run  with  Indians  and  outlaws,  following  in  the 
wake  of  war,  found  that  the  battles  of  its  first  great 
pioneers  would  have  to  be,  in  a  measure,  fought  over 
again.  Not  for  the  independence  of  a  republic,  but, 
for  the  life  and  liberty  of  her  people,  guaranteed  by 
the  constitution,  and  compact  of  states.  Consequent- 
ly, in  May,  1874,  Governor  Coke  recommended  to  the 
legislature,  then  in  session,  to  authorize  the  raising 
'and  equipping  of  a  battalion,  of  six  full  companies 
of  Rangers,  consisting  of  75  men  to  each  company, 
rank  and  file,  to  be  placed  on  the  Texas  frontier,  ex- 
tending from  Jacksboro,  in  Jack  County,  to  the  Rio 
Grande  River,  bordering  on  Mexico  a  distance  of 
600  miles,  on  the  north  and  west  of  the  interior  of 
the  state. 

That  legislature  was  composed  of  the  sterling  men 
of  the  state,  who  didn't  weigh  money,  with  the  lives 
of  our  people,  and  after  passing  the  bill  appropriat- 
ed $75,000.00  to  put  the  Battalion  into  action  as 
quickly  as  possible.  The  six  companies  of  the  Bat- 
talion were  organized  and  officered  as  follows:  On 


16  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

the  extreme  east  of  the  line  was  Captain  John  Ikard. 
Then,  coming  west,  was  Captain  Stevens,  then  Cap- 
tain Jeff.  Malty,  then  Captain  C.  R.  (Rufe  Perry,) 
commanding  Company  D.  Then  came  Captain  Neal 
Caldwell  and  Captain  Pat  Dolan  on  the  extreme 
west.  The  respective  companies  were  distributed 
approximately  100  miles  apart.  Our  Adjutant  Gen- 
eral was  Wm.  Steele;  our  Major  was  John  B.  Jones. 
Our  Quartermaster  was  Wm.  M.  Kenney. 

Major  John  B.  Jones  was  the  moving  spirit  of 
the  field  work  and  directed  it  almost  entirely  him- 
self. Major  Jones  was  a  man  of  great  administra- 
tive and  executive  ability,  and  none  of  the  Rangers 
could  beat  him  to  a  real  live  scrap  with  the  enemy. 
He  was  the  right  man  in  the  right  place.  Major 
Jones  detailed  five  men  from  each  company  to  serve 
as  an  escort  with  him  in  traveling  from  one  com- 
pany to  another,  up  and  down  the  line  of  companies. 
That  he  endured  hardships  and  hard  fighting  will 
be  mentioned  later. 

After  we  had  been  in  the  service  about  five  months 
having  had  some  fighting  in  the  meantime,  our 
Quartermaster  informed  Governor  Coke  that  the  ap- 
propriation, $75,000.00,  would  not  maintain  the  six 
companies  for  two  years,  or  until  another  legisla- 
ture could  make  further  appropriation,  the  deficit 
being  about  one-half  of  the  needed  sum.  Conse- 
quently, Governor  Coke  ordered  a  reduction  of  the 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  17 

force  to  40  men  to  each  company,  rank  and  file, 
which  was  done  immediately. 

When  the  reduction  of  companies  came  Captain 
•'Rufe"  Perry  resigned  as  captain  of  Company  D, 
and  recommended  Lieutenant  Dan  W.  Roberts  to  take 
command  of  the  company.  This  was  done  over  our 
First  Lieutenant,  W.  W.  Ledbetter,  who  was  a  splen- 
did gentleman.  Mr.  Ledbetter  feeling  the  sting  a 
little  quit  the  service. 

As  I  have  only  contemplated  a  record  of  the  ser- 
vice of  Company  D,  frontier  battalion,  we  hope  no 
officer  or  man  of  the  batallion  will  think  that  we 
are  not  big  enough  to  give  equal  justice  to  all.  My 
purpose  is  to  give  a  faithful  record  of  what  I  know  to 
be  true,  and  I  can  only  represent  Company  D  backed 
by  the  archives  of  the  state. 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  19 


The  Deer  Creek  Fight 

The  first  Indian  fight  in  which  I  took  part  oc- 
curred in  August,  1873,  which  was  a  little  more  than 
a  year  prior  to  the  time  the  legislature  passed  the 
bill  providing  for  the  battalion  of  Rangers  to  patrol 
and  protect  the  immense  district  which  might  prop- 
erly be  called  the  outposts  of  advanced  civilization. 

The  battle  was  between  a  small  posse  of  citizens 
of  Round  Mountain  and  a  band  of  marauding  In- 
dians which  had  committed  a  horrible  murder  in  that 
neighborhood  just  a  few  days  before.  This  butchery 
was  only  one  of  the  many  which  was  being  perpe- 
trated from  day  to  day  along  that  long  stretch  of 
lonely,  unprotected  .border,  and  afforded  convincing 
proof  that  some  sort  of  police  protection  was  im- 
peratively needed. 

The  victims  of  the  Indians  were  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Thomas  Phelps,  who  lived  on  their  ranch  near  Cy- 
press Creek  some  three  miles  to  the  south  of  Round 
Mountain,  in  Blanco  County.  Round  Mountain  was 
a  small  settlement  which  was  only  about  fifty  miles 
distant  from  Austin.  The  grave  dangers  and  deadly 
perils  which  menaced  the  pioneers  will  be  understood 
all  the  more  readily  when  it  is  shown  that  the  In- 
dians carried  on  their  merciless  warfare  of  robbery, 


20  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

arson  and  murder  within  fifty  miles  of  the  capital 
of  the  state. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Phelps  left  their  home  and  walked 
down  on  Cypress  creek  to  enjoy  a  few  hour's  fishing. 
Mrs.  "White,  who  was  Mrs.  Phelps'  mother,  was  left 
at  home  to  take  care  of  the  children.  A  short  while 
after  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Phelps  left  the  house  Mrs.  White 
heard  the  firing  of  guns  in  the  direction  of  the  creek. 
She  knew  only  too  well  the  terrible  significance  of 
these  sounds.  A  negro  boy  scared  almost  out  of  his 
wits,  hastened  to  the  house  of  the  nearest  neighbor 
and  gave  the  alarm.  The  "pony"  telephone  rapidly 
spread  the  report  and  friends  hurried  to  the  scene 
of  the  killing.  The  bodies  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Phelps 
were  found  on  the  bank  of  the  creek,  where  they  had 
been  murdered  and  scalped.  The  Indians  then  had 
a  start  of  several  hours,  which  was  too  big  a  lead 
to  overcome,  even  if  an  armed  posse  had  been  ready  to 
take  the  trail. 

On  the  following  Sunday  several  of  the  young 
men  of  the  neighborhood  gathered  at  the  home  of  my 
father,  Alexander  (Buck)  Roberts.  Repairing  to  the 
shade  of  a  little  grove  nearby,  we  held  a  council  of 
war.  The  situation  was  too  plain  to  admit  of  a  misun- 
derstanding. The  issue  involved  a  matter  of  life  and 
death  and  we  faced  it  fairly  and  squarely.  The  one 
resolution  introduced  and  unanimously  carried  was 
that  the  next  time  the  Indians  came  into  our  neigh- 
borhood, we  would  follow  and  fight.  There  was  noth- 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  21 

ing  heroic  in  our  resolution ;  on  the  contrary,  we  were 
simply  governed  by  the  law  of  self-preservation.  If 
we  remained  at  home  and  permitted  the  Indians  to 
continue  unmolested  in  their  raids,  there  was  a  strong 
probability  that,  family  by  family,  nearly  all  of  us 
would  be  butchered;  while  if  we  engaged  them  in 
battle  there  was  at  least  a  fighting  chance  that  we 
could  "get"  some  of  them.  We  could  do  no  worse 
than  be  killed  in  the  fight  and  that  was  a  better  pros- 
pect than  being  butchered  as  we  slept. 

We  did  not  have  to  wait  long  after  the  council  of 
war  was  held.  Within  just  a  few  days  the  report 
was  received  that  the  Indians  were  in  the  country 
to  the  north  of  us  and  were  moving  south.  Again 
the  "pony"  telephone  was  put  in  operation  and  the 
news  carried  from  house  to  house. 

There  were  only  six  of  us  who  rode  out  from  Round 
Mountain  to  find  the  trail  and  run  down  the  Indian 
band,  whose  number  we  had  no  means  of  knowing. 
In  the  party  were  Thomas  Bird,  Joe  Bird,  John  0. 
Biggs,  Stanton  Jolly,  George  T.  Roberts  (my 
brother),  and  myself.  We  struck  the  trail  on  Hick- 
ory Creek,  about  ten  miles  from  Round  Mountain. 
A  short  time  after  we  struck  the  trail  we  were  over- 
taken and  joined  by  Captain  James  Ingram,  William 
Ingram,  Frank  Waldrip  and  "Cam"  Davidson.  This 
unexpected  reinforcement  brought  our  squad  up  to 
a  fighting  strength  of  ten  men. 

All  of  us  were  young  men,  but  we  were  seasoned 


22  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

plainsmen  inured  to  the  hardships  of  life  on  the  fron- 
tier. We  knew  how  to  ride  hard  and  shoot  straight. 
The  equipment  of  arms  of  our  squad  was  very  poor, 
probably  inferior  to  the  equipment  of  the  Indians. 
I  remember  that  several  of  the  boys  had  only  six- 
shooters  and  they  were  not  very  good  ones.  I  had 
an  old  Spencer  saddle-gun  which  had  been  in  the 
army  service.  It  was  a  big  calibre  rifle,  with  a  mag- 
azine holding  seven  shells,  and  perhaps  the  best  gun 
in  the  squad. 

On  the  trail  we  found  where  the  Indians  had  killed 
two  beeves  and  carried  away  practically  all  of  the 
meat.  The  big  trail  of  horses  tended  to  confirm  our 
suspicion  that  we  were  trailing  a  big  band.  We 
learned  later  that  every  horse  had  a  rider. 

We  followed  the  trail  at  a  gallop  when  the  lay  of  the 
ground  made  that  speed  possible.  After  following  the 
trail  for  fifteen  miles  we  saw  an  Indian  run  down 
from  the  top  of  a  little  hill,  from  which  vantage  point 
he  had  been  spying  over  the  back  trail.  He  was 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away  when  we  sighted  him- 
We  knew  that  the  band  must  be  near  and  that  the 
fight  was  about  to  begin.  Putting  our  horses  into 
a  dead  run  we  moved  forward  and  around  the  little 
hill. 

As  we  came  within  range  they  opened  fire  and  our 
answering  volley  was  fired  before  we  dismounted. 
With  cunning  and  strategy  they  had  chosen  well  the 
place  to  be  overtaken.  As  we  swept  into  plain  view 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  23 

and  into  the  range  of  their  guns  we  realized  that 
every  natural  advantage  was  theirs,  but  no  matter 
how  great  the  handicap  we  were  there  to  fight.  They 
were  entrenched  in  a  little  draw  or  shallow  ravine  to 
the  right  of  the  hill  and  far  enough  distant  from  the 
hill  to  prevent  us  from  using  that  eminence  for  a 
breastwork.  Our  only  means  of  attack  was  in  the  open, 
from  the  front.  To  add  to  their  advantage  there  was 
a  scrub  growth  of  Spanish  oak  on  each  side  of  the 
ravine.  On  the  further  side  of  the  ravine  their  horses 
were  tied. 

The  mare  that  I  was  riding  was  young  and  badly 
tired,  which  left  me  considerably  in  the  rear  when 
the  first  volley  was  fired.  When  I  reached  the  squad 
I  found  that  my  brother  had  been  wounded  in  the 
first  exchange  of  shots.  A  big  bullet  had  struck 
him  on  the  right  side  of  the  face,  grazing  the  cheek 
bone  just  under  the  eye,  passing  through  the  nose 
and  grazing  the  left  cheek  bone  as  it  passed  out. 
An  inch  higher  and  further  in  would  have  resulted  in 
instant  death.  I  asked  Stanton  Jolly  to  move  George 
out  of  range  and  take  care  of  him.  This  reduced  our 
fighting  force  to  eight  men. 

We  continued  to  pepper  each  other  as  best  we 
could,  the  final  result  in  doubt  from  the  very  begin- 
ning. We  could  not  even  see  when  our  bullets  were 
finding  lodging  in  the  targets.  While  the  others 
held  their  ground  directly  in  front,  I  edged  around 
to  the  left,  and  finally  reached  the  side  of  the  gully. 


24  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

From  this  point  I  could  fire  down  the  gully  and  as 
long  as  I  could  hold  the  position,  put  the  Indians 
under  a  sort  of  cross-fire.  I  had  a  much  better  view 
and  could  do  more  effective  work  from  this  position. 
When  an  Indian  would  rise  from  behind  the  brush 
to  shoot  at  me,  the  boys  in  front  had  a  better  shot 
at  him,  and  when  he  exposed  himself  to  shoot  at  the 
squad,  my  time  came  to  shoot. 

The  bullets  struck  all  around  me,  but  I  used  the 
Indian  tactics,  jumping  from  one  side  to  another  of 
the  gulley,  with  my  gun  always  in  position  to  take 
advantage  of  an  opening  for  a  fair  shot.  I  suspect 
I  must  have  grown  a  little  bit  careless  when  there  was 
a  momentary  lull  in  the  firing.  I  was  standing,  part- 
ly exposed,  with  my  gun  in  position,  when  a  big  bullet 
struck  me  in  the  left  thigh,  missing  the  bone  and  pass- 
ing entirely  through  my  limb.  The  shot  did  not  knock 
me  down,  but  the  blood  spouted  so  freely  that  I 
thought  the  main  artery  had  been  severed.  By  this 
time  William  Ingram  had  worked  his  way  around  and 
was  firing  on  the  Indians  from  a  short  distance  from 
me.  I  called  to  him  that  I  had  been  shot  and  feared 
I  was  mortally  wounded,  but  urged  him  not  to  come 
to  me.  I  continued  to  stand  with  my  gun  in  position 
to  shoot. 

"Bill"  Ingram  was  a  big,  heavy-set,  good  natured 
boy,  somewhat  easy  going,  but  he  had  the  heart  of  a 
lion.  It  was  useless  to  tell  him  to  avoid  danger  when 
a  comrade  had  been  shot  and  needed  his  services. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  25 

Disregarding  the  fire  of  the  Indians,  he  came  directly 
to  me.  Finding  me  helpless  and  in  a  condition  ap- 
parently serious,  he  went  out  to  the  open  and  brought 
back  his  horse.  Lifting  me  into  the  saddle  he  led 
the  horse  out  through  the  shower  of  bullets. 

My  wound  was  bleeding  so  freely  and  I  was  suffer- 
ing so  much  for  water  that  the  boys  realized  that  they 
must  get  me  away  quickly.  We  found  water  within 
a  mile  of  the  scene  of  the  fight,  and  from  there  I  was 
carried  to  Johnson's  ranch,  about  two  miles  further 
on.  The  only  injuries  sustained  by  our  squad  were 
the  two  slight  wounds  on  Joe  Bird,  who  had  both 
shoulders  grazed  by  bullets.  Several  of  the  horses 
were  slightly  wounded. 

After  carrying  George  and  myself  to  Johnson's 
ranch  where  we  could  have  attention,  one  of  the  boys 
rode  over  and  reported  the  fight  to  Captain  Rufe 
Perry,  who  lived  half  a  mile  away.  Hastily  summon- 
ing all  the  men  available  he  went  at  once  to  the  battle 
ground,  hoping  to  resume  the  fight.  He  found  that 
the  Indians  had  departed  as  soon  as  we  ceased  firing 
and  gave  up  the  fight.  He  took  the  trail  westward 
and  followed  it  some  distance,  but  found  that  the  band 
had  a  long  start  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  over- 
take them  before  night.  Four  or  five  of  their  horses 
had  been  left  dead  on  the  battle  ground.  Captain 
Perry  found  many  blood  spots  on  the  trail  where  the 
dead  and  wounded  had  been  laid  on  the  ground. 

These  Indians  were  trailed  out  of  the  country  by 


26  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

other  parties.  They  numbered  twenty-seven  warriors, 
so  I  was  informed  by  parties  who  saw  them  come  in. 
One  of  the  parties  which  trailed  them  out  reported 
finding  the  graves  of  four  of  the  braves  who  had 
been  consigned  to  the  happy  hunting  ground  as  the 
result  of  the  fight  with  us. 

While  I  lay  convalescing,  Hon.  H.  C.  King,  State 
Senator  came  to  pay  me  a  visit.  He  was  deeply  stirred 
by  the  report  of  the  fight.  He  was  one  of  the  type  of 
man  made  famous  by  Kipling,  with  plenty  of  red 
blood  in  his  veins.  He  went  from  our  home  direct  to 
Austin,  where  the  legislature  was  then  in  session, 
and  introduced  a  bill  which  provided  for  a  gun  to 
be  given  to  each  one  of  us  who  participated  in  the 
fight,  as  a  testimonial  of  the  State's  appreciation  of 
the  services  we  tried  to  render.  The  guns  awarded 
were  repeating  Winchesters  of  the  model  of  1873, 
which  had  just  been  perfected  and  put  on  the  market. 
I  have  my  gun  yet,  and  I  hardly  need  to  add  that  it 
is  among  the  most  treasured  of  all  my  possessions. 

The  oftener  I  think  of  the  Deer  Creek  fight,  the 
greater  is  my  wonder  that  all  of  us  were  not  killed. 
We  were  outnumbered  by  more  than  three  to  one,  had 
arms  that  were  inferior  to  the  enemy 's  and  were  com- 
pelled to  fight  in  the  open,  at  close  range,  while  the 
Indians  had  shelter.  1  can  account  for  the  miracle  of 
our  escape  only  by  believing  that  it  was  an  act  of 
Providence. 

Captain  Rufe  Perry,  who  is  mentioned  in  this  chap- 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  27 

ter,  was  the  first  commander  of  Company  "  D "  of  the 
Texas  Rangers,  when  the  battalion  was  organized  a 
year  afterward.  Of  those  who  were  in  the  Deer  Creek 
fight,  only  three  other  than  myself  are  alive  today, 
so  far  as  I  can  learn.  "Bill'  Ingram  lives  in 
Schleicher  County,  Texas ;  Joe  Bird  is  still  in  or  near 
Round  Mountain,  and  John  0.  Biggs  is  a  resident  of 
Silver  City,  New  Mexico. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  29 


Packsaddle  Mountain  Fight 

Being  almost  coincident  with  our  Deer  Creek  fight, 
we  copy  Mr.  James  R.  Moss'  account  of  the  Packsad- 
dle Mountain  fight.  The  Moss  brothers,  and  the 
Roberts  brothers  were  a  team  that  always  pulled  to- 
gether, and  we  never  knew  a  Moss  to  balk. 

"On  the  4th  day  of  August,  1873,  a  party  of  red- 
skins supposed  to  be  Comanches,  made  a  raid  into 
Llano  County,  and  stole  a  lot  of  horses,  with  which 
they  were  making  their  escape  out  of  the  country, 
when  a  company  of  eight,  Dever  Harrington,  Robert 
Brown,  Eli  Lloyd,  Arch  Martin,  Pink  Ayres  and  the 
Moss  brothers,  James  R.,  William  and  Stephen  D., 
was  organized  and  started  in  pursuit.  After  follow- 
ing the  trail  perhaps  a  distance  of  forty  miles,  the 
Rangers  discovered  the  Indians  about  noon  on  the  fol- 
lowing day  in  camp  on  top  of  Packsaddle  Mountain. 
Concealing  their  movements  the  pursuers  carefully 
reconnoitered  the  situation  and  discovered  that  the 
redskins  had  made  only  a  temporary  halt  to  rest  and 
refresh  themselves.  They  had  passed  over  an  open 
space  about  forty  yards  in  width  covered  with  grass 
and  had  pitched  their  camp  on  the  edge  of  the  bluff 
beyond,  leaving  their  stock  in  the  glade  to  graze.  The 
bluff  where  they  halted  was  skirted  below  with  a 


30  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

sparse  growth  of  stunted  trees,  which,  with  some 
scrubby  bushes  growing  adjacent  afforded  them  a 
good  camping  ground.  Some  of  the  Indians  had  lain 
down  in  the  bushes  to  rest,  while  others  were  roasting 
meat  over  a  stick  fire  and  eating.  It  was  agreed 
among  the  Rangers  that  they  would  charge  across  the 
glade  on  horseback  and  put  themselves  between  the 
Indians  and  their  horses,  then  dismount  and  open  fire. 
The  charge  was  made  and  all  dismounted  before  fir- 
ing, except  William  Moss,  who  fired  two  shots  from 
his  horse.  Though  surprised  the  Indians  gathered 
their  guns  and  returned  the  fire,  forming  as  they  did 
so,  in  a  kind  of  battle  line,  in  which  manner  they  made 
two  separate  charges,  evidently  intending,  if  possible, 
to  reach  their  horses.  But  they  were  repulsed  each 
time,  and  a  third  line  was  broken  up  before  they 
got  well  out  of  the  timber,  under  cover  of  which  it  was 
formed.  One  buck,  bolder  than  the  rest,  advanced 
alone  at  some  distance  to  the  right  of  the  others,  and 
without  firing  his  gun,  which,  however,  he  held  grasp- 
ed in  an  upright  position,  seemed  determined  to  make 
his  way  to  the  horses.  He  came  to  within  a  few  feet 
of  the  Rangers,  some  of  them  firing  at  him,  when 
suddenly  he  turned  and  retreating  to  the  edge  of  the 
timber,  fell  forward  stone  dead,  but,  as  was  afterward 
found,  still  tightly  grasping  his  gun.  About  this 
time  three  or  four  of  the  Indians  started  up  a  chant 
and  began  to  file  off  under  the  bluff,  the  others  fol- 
lowed suit,  and  almost  in  a  twinkling,  nothing  more 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  31 

was  seen  of  them.  On  inspecting  the  battle  ground 
the  Rangers  found  three  bodies.  Four  of  their  num- 
ber were  more  or  less  hurt,  William  Moss  being  shot 
in  the  right  arm  and  shoulder,  the  ball  ranging 
through  the  breast  and  coming  out  on  the  left  side. 
Arch  Martin  shot  in  the  left  groin;  Eli  Lloyd  three 
slight  wounds  in  the  arms,  and  Pink  Ayers,  two  balls 
in  the  hips.  It  was  estimated  that  there  were  twenty 
Indians,  seventeen  bucks,  two  squaws  and  a  boy.  All 
of  the  stock  which  these  Indians  had,  twenty  head, 
together  with  some  of  their  firearms,  saddles  and 
accoutrements,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Rangers. 
None  of  the  wounds  sustained  by  the  pursuers  proved 
serious,  except  those  of  William  Moss;  he  has  always 
suffered  more  or  less  with  his. ' ' 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  33 


Enlistment  and  First  Scout 

My  connection  with  the  Ranger  Battalion  was 
accidental.  That  is  true  at  least  to  the  extent  that 
I  made  no  application  to  enlist  in  the  service. 

In  May,  1874,  I  made  all  my  plans  and  arrange- 
ments to  remove  to  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico,  to 
engage  in  business.  This  was  just  at  the  time  that 
the  Battalion  was  being  organized.  I  had  previously 
spent  some  time  in  the  territory  and  was  favorably 
impressed  with  the  business  prospects.  I  had  gone 
so  far  with  my  arrangements  as  to  write  a  notice  of 
my  plans  to  the  young  lady  who  has  been  Mrs.  Rob- 
erts for  a  great  many  years. 

Just  before  I  made  the  start  I  received  a  brief  letter 
from  Captain  Rufe  Perry,  who  had  been  commissioned 
a  captain  and  placed  in  command  of  Company  "D". 
The  letter  read  as  follows :  * '  Meet  me  in  Austin  May 
10th."  I  had  not  the  remotest  idea  of  what  he  de- 
sired, but  the  letter  had  an  imperative  ring,  so  I 
went  to  Austin.  A  few  minutes  after  my  arrival  at 
the  Capitol,  I  met  Captain  Perry  on  Congress  Avenue 
as  he  was  coming  down  from  the  capitol  building. 
After  we  had  exchanged  greetings,  he  handed  me  a 
document  without  making  any  comment.  The  docu- 
ment was  a  commission  as  second  lieutenant  that  had 


34  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

been  signed  a  few  minutes  before  by  Governor  Rich- 
ard Coke.  With  the  remark  ' ' I  guess  you've  got  me, ' ' 
I  accepted  the  commission  and  became  one  of  the 
charter  members  of  Company  "D"  of  the  Ranger 
Battalion.  I  returned  home  for  my  equipment  and 
joined  the  company  on  its  march  for  the  frontier. 

Captain  Perry,  as  the  commander  of  a  company 
which  was  to  remain  on  the  frontier,  naturally  select- 
ed some  of  the  members  of  the  company  from  the  men 
whom  he  knew  personally.  It  was  necessary  to  have 
men  who  were  more  or  less  acquainted  with  life  on  the 
border  and  accustomed  to  the  hardships.  He  and  I 
had  been  personal  friends  for  many  years  and  had 
had  scout  service  together.  Our  respective  families 
had  lived  in  the  same  district  and  been  friends  for  a 
long  time.  I  write  this  paragraph  as  an  explanation 
of  his  reason  for  offering  me  a  commission  as  a 
lieutenant  in  his  company. 

In  August  of  the  same  year,  Captain  Perry  ordered 
a  scout  made  to  the  south  of  camp  to  look  for  Indian 
signs.  The  company  was  then  in  camp  on  the  San 
Saba  River,  twenty  miles  below  Fort  McKavett.  Eight 
men  were  detailed  for  the  scout,  with  myself  in  com- 
mand. At  the  end  of  the  first  day's  march  we  camp- 
ed near  the  headwaters  of  the  Little  Saline  Creek, 
where  we  found  a  spring  of  good  water. 

George  Bird  was  sent  out  to  kill  a  deer.  Six  of  the 
other  members  were  sent  out  to  graze  the  horses  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  camp.  Corporal  Matt. 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  35 

Murphy  was  in  charge  of  the  horse  guard.  Murphy 
was  from  Mobile  and  was  dubbed  "Mobile  Register". 
Notwithstanding  the  fun  we  had  with  him,  he  was 
a  game,  good  fellow. 

George  Bird  returned  to  camp  just  at  sundown.  He 
was  laying  down  his  gun  when  firing  commenced  out 
at  the  horses.  The  Indian  war-cry  left  no  doubt  as 
to  the  meaning  of  the  shots. 

George  Bird  seized  his  gun  and  sprinted  for  the 
horses.  I  stayed  right  with  him.  Reaching  the  horses, 
we  saw  that  the  Indians  had  given  up  the  fight  and 
fled,  after  staying  for  only  two  exchanges  of  shots. 
They  had  thought  to  play  the  role  of  surprise  party, 
but  finding  the  small  squad  ready  and  willing  for  a 
fight,  quickly  decided  that  discretion  was  the  better 
part  of  valor  and  took  to  flight.  The  Rangers  loosen- 
ed hobbles,  mounted  bareback  and  rode  pell-mell  to 
camp  for  saddles.  We  returned  to  the  place  where 
we  had  seen  them  last  and  followed  in  their  wake 
until  dark.  In  the  hurried  departure  they  dropped 
several  blankets  and  trinkets.  One  hat  which  we 
found  will  be  referred  to  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

We  took  the  trail  early  next  morning  and  followed 
for  some  thirty  miles.  The  men  found  evidences  which 
they  thought  indicated  that  we  had  wounded  several 
of  the  Indians  in  the  fight  the  night  before.  Late 
in  the  evening  we  found  the  tracks  diverging  in  many 
directions.  Scattering  was  an  old  trick  which  they 
used  when  closely  pursued.  Breaking  into  very  small 


36  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

squads,  they  would  agree  upon  a  meeting  place  gen- 
erally remote  and  always  in  some  direction  other  than 
the  one  they  had  been  traveling.  After  some  study  of 
the  situation  we  "called  the  turn".  Our  guess  was 
that  they  would  double  back  and  meet  somewhere  near 
the  point  where  they  made  the  attack.  That  this  guess 
hit  the  mark  will  be  shown  in  a  chapter  reporting  the 
fight  which  we  had  with  them  a  few  days  later.  The 
band  was  composed  of  Comanches,  about  twelve  in 
number. 

We  returned  to  camp,  but  we  waited  in  vain  for 
them  to  come  within  sight  or  hearing. 

The  cunning  of  the  Indians  is  well  illustrated  in 
the  point  of  our  camp  which  they  selected  to  attack. 
Almost  invariably  they  went  for  the  horses  first. 
They  seemed  to  have  a  mania  for  stealing  horses,  even 
when  they  did  not  need  them.  When  they  were  not 
bent  upon  stealing,  they  delighted  in  stampeding  the 
horses,  leaving  the  campers  a-foot. 

The  squads  and  companies  of  Rangers  were  com- 
pelled to  use  every  precaution  to  prevent  the  Indians 
from  stampeding  the  horses.  Captain  Perry,  of  Com- 
pany "D"  introduced  the  custom  of  using  hobbles 
and  side  lines.  The  hobbles  were  short  chains,  with 
a  heavy  leather  strap  at  each  end  and  fastened  to  the 
horses  fore  feet;  the  side  lines  fastening  into  one  of 
the  straps  of  the  hobbles  and  extending  backward 
and  fastening  to  the  hind  foot.  Horses  so  secured 
could  not  possibly  move  faster  than  a  walk  and  the 
Indians  never  could  drive  them  away  from  us. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  37 

One  of  my  rightly  enforced  regulations  was  to  send 
all  the  men  of  the  horse  guard  out  with  the  horses. 
And  there  they  stayed.  They  could  arrange  their 
reliefs  so  as  not  to  work  any  hardships,  but  they  were 
required  to  remain  within  shooting  distance  of  the 
horses. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  39 


Fugitive  List 


After  we  had  been  in  the  service  about  four  months 
we  found  that  we  would  be  compelled  to  assist  civil 
officers  in  the  enforcement  of  law  on  the  frontier. 
Consequently,  Major  Jones  conceived  the  idea  of  some 
fine  constructive  work  in  procuring  a  list  from  each 
county  in  the  state  of  their  criminals,  many  of  whom 
had  fled  to  the  frontier  to  hide  from  the  law.  This, 
all  added  up,  made  a  considerable  book.  A  copy  of 
this  book  was  furnished  to  each  company  of  the  Bat- 
talion. Several  times  we  found  our  ''neighbors" 
were  wanted  on  '  *  important  business ' '  in  the  counties 
they  hailed  from.  A  very  accurate  description  was 
given  of  men  charged  with  crime,  and  that  was  what 
caught  them  oftener  than  names.  Every  visible  scar, 
or  any  peculiar  movement,  or  any  peculiarity  of 
speech;  taking  in  the  color  of  the  hair,  height,  age, 
and  color  of  the  eyes  were  all  given.  My  men  got  so 
thoroughly  trained  by  observance  that  a  man's  name 
only  counted  for  a  starter  for  his  True  identity.  They 
all  studied  the  Fugitive  List  more  than  the  Bible,  but 
always  observed  the  Bible  teaching :  ' '  Thou  shalt  not 
steal  or  commit  murder." 

Our  work  was  constant;  and  when  we  were  after 
Indians  there  were  generally  enough  men  in  camp 


40  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

to  assist  the  civil  officers  in  making  arrests  of  crimi- 
nals. Some  of  the  sheriffs  became  a  little  lazy  and 
depended  on  the  Bangers  a  little  too  much,  while 
others  were  jealous  of  the  Rangers  in  getting  to  their 
men  first.  The  Ranger  posse  was  always  ready  and 
day  and  night  was  their  limit  on  time.  The  courts  did 
not  discourage  the  civil  officers,  but  the  Rangers  were 
their  certain  dependance.  This  was  kept  subrosa  by 
the  legal  fraternity. 

All  our  district  judges  sustained  the  Ranger  work, 
as  they  did  nothing  except  what  was  advised  by  the 
law  branch  of  the  state.  We  generally  turned  over 
prisoners  to  the  sheriffs,  unless  it  was  some  bad 
hombre  that  needed  a  safer  jail  than  the  frontier 
counties  had.  The  Rangers  were  under  no  bond  in 
doing  this  work,  but  each  one  of  them  was  virtually 
commissioned  by  the  Governor  of  the  state,  by  acting 
under  his  orders,  through  officers  he  had  commission- 
ed to  do  the  work. 

All  the  state  officers,  from  Governor  down,  were  our 
strong  friends  and  supporters.  Our  success  was  their 
success  and  we  pulled  together  like  brothers.  We 
really  believe  that  their  pride  in  the  work  was  as  great 
as  that  of  the  man  who  performed  it. 


MAJOR  JOHN  B.  JONES 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  41 


Lost  Valley  Fight 

This  chapter  marks  a  departure  from  the  general 
rule  which  is  followed  throughout  the  remainder  of 
this  little  book,  in  that  the  facts  here  set  down  are 
not  taken  from  my  experiences,  nor  did  they  come 
under  my  observation.  My  reason  for  publishing 
this  chapter  is  that  the  story  of  the  fight  illustrates 
exceptionally  well  the  gallantry  and  courage  of  Major 
John  B.  Jones,  who  was  the  commander  and  guiding 
spirit  of  the  Battalion  of  Rangers. 

The  report  which  is  given  was  taken  from  an  article 
written  for  the  El  Paso  Morning  Times  by  Sergeant 
J.  B.  Gillette,  who  was  a  member  of  Company  "D". 
I  know  from  many  verbal  reports  that  Sergeant  Gil- 
lette's story  is  correct,  and  therefore  have  no  hesi- 
tancy in  quoting  therefrom.  His  story  is  as  follows : 

11  Major  Jones  had  made  one  trip  along  the  line  of 
his  companies  to  the  extreme  eastern  end,  where  Cap- 
tain Ikard's  company  was  stationed.  On  the  return 
trip  he  camped  for  the  night  on  the  lower  edge  of 
Lost  Valley,  in  Jack  County.  Early  on  the  next 
morning,  a  small  band  of  Indians  raided  Loving 's 
ranch  and  stole  a  bunch  of  horses.  The  ranchmen 
being  aware  of  Major  Jones'  presence  hurried  to  his 
camp  and  reported  the  raid  and  theft. 


42  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

This  was  just  what  the  Major  wanted.  Here  was 
a  fresh  Indian  trail,  within  a  few  miles  of  his  camp. 
He  took  with  him  his  entire  escort  of  30  men,  picked 
up  the  trail  and  followed  it  rapidly.  From  the  signs, 
there  appeared  to  be  10  or  12  Indians  in  the  party, 
and  as  the  trail  was  only  a  few  hours  old,  the  mounts 
of  his  command  fresh  and  his  men  eager  for  fight, 
they  pushed  on  at  a  full  gallop,  not  dreaming  that  old 
Lone  Wolf,  a  celebrated  Kiowa  chief,  with  250  war- 
riors, was  concealed  in  a  little  mott  of  timber,  in  the 
upper  edge  of  Lost  Valley,  eagerly  watching  the  ap- 
proach of.  the  Rangers.  As  Major  Jones  hurried  on, 
all  of  a  sudden  he  found  himself  completely  surround- 
ed by  this  fierce  band  of  savages.  The  Kiowas,  and 
Comanches,  are  given  up  to  be  the  best  riders,  and 
most  expert  horsemen  of  any  Indians  on  the  American 
Continent. 

Those  Indians,  on  their  gaily  bedecked  ponies,  cir- 
cled around  and  around  this  command  of  30  men, 
pouring  in  a  perfect  fusilade  of  bullets,  being  armed 
with  the  most  improved  rifles.  Major  Jones  seeing 
that  it  would  be  impossible  to  escape,  steadied  his  men, 
the  best  he  could.  Many  of  the  Rangers  never  having 
been  under  fire  before,  became  somewhat  panicky,  and 
it  is  said,  that  it  was  all  Major  Jones  could  do,  to 
keep  them  from  trying  to  break  through  the  Indian 
line,  which  would  have  caused  the  entire  command 
to  have  been  massacred.  The  Rangers  were  quickly 
dismounted  and  took  shelter  in  a  small  ravine.  The 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  43 

horses  that  could  not  be  protected  by  shelter  were  tied 
in  a  small  pecan  mott  near  at  hand.  The  Indians 
circled  repeatedly  around  the  Rangers  and  made  re- 
peated efforts  to  rout  them,  but,  the  "boys"  had  be- 
come steady  now,  and  met  each  charge  of  the  Indians 
with  a  well  directed  fire.  And  many  a  brave  warrior 
was  unhorsed  and  killed.  Old  Lone  Wolf,  in  person, 
made  a  '  *  dare  devil ' '  charge,  to  show  his  prowess,  but 
he  met  with  a  bullet  from  Johnny  Holmes '  rifle,  which 
took  his  horse  from  under  him.  From  Johnny  Holmes ' 
delicate  appearance,  and  his  Chesterfield  manners, 
you  would  not  think  there  was  a  "man  of  steel,"  at 
the  breech  of  his  rifle.  Johnny  was  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany "D". 

Lone  Wolf  seeing  that  he  could  not  dislodge  the 
Rangers,  drew  off,  and  with  a  few  long  range  buffalo 
guns  turned  his  attention  to  Major  Jones'  horses.  He 
shot  down  and  killed  every  horse  that  was  exposed, 
18  head  in  all.  They  had  now  been  fighting  most  of 
the  day,  and  the  Rangers  were  running  short  of  am- 
munition. One  of  the  men,  Charles  Glass,  having  a 
fine  race  mare,  told  the  Major  that  he  believed  he 
could  break  through  the  Indians,  and  carry  the  news 
to  Jacksboro,  where  they  could  get  relief.  The  Major 
opposed  this,  but  Glass  insisted.  The  Rangers  were 
without  water,  and  their  situation  becoming  critical. 
Finally,  Glass  was  allowed  to  make  the  attempt.  His 
mare  had  been  sheltered  by  the  ravine.  He  readjusted 
his  saddle,  and  as  he  tightened  the  cinches,  it  was 


44  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

noticed  that  his  hands  trembled  like  an  aspen  leaf. 
Yet,  he  was  clear  grit,  and  when  all  was  ready,  he  pull- 
ed his  hat  tight  down  over  his  eyes,  mounted,  dug  his 
spurs  deep  into  the  sides  of  his  mare,  and  at  one  bound 
was  out  of  the  ditch,  running  at  full  speed  for  the 
open  country.  The  boys  gave  him  a  military  salute 
as  he  left.  Old  Lone  Wolf  was  too  cunning  to  be 
caught  napping,  and  at  once  some  of  his  best  mounted 
warriors  were  sent  in  pursuit.  Not  having  to  run  so 
far,  they  quickly  closed  in  on  Glass,  and  he  and  his 
mare  were  shot  down,  and  killed,  before  he  had  gone 
600  yards.  Thus  was  the  first  blood  of  the  Battalion 
spilled. 

"But  many  brave  Rangers  have  gone  to  their  last 
reward  since  then.  The  Rangers  attempted  to  protect 
Glass  the  best  they  could,  in  his  flight,  and  Lee  Corn, 
one  of  the  best  Rangers  that  served  in  the  early  days, 
exposed  himself  a  little  too  much,  and  was  hit  by  a 
large  rifle  ball,  in  the  right  elbow,  the  bullet  shattering 
the  bone,  and  coming  out  at  the  wrist.  As  night  came 
on,  it  was  seen,  that  the  Indians  were  preparing  to 
leave,  and  by  dark,  they  were  all  gone.  Major  Jones 
came  out  and  marched  back  to  his  camp  of  the  morn- 
ing, with  the  most  of  his  men  on  foot.  As  soon  as  the 
Major  could  remount  his  men,  he  continued  his  march 
westward,  along  the  line  of  companies. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  45 


With  Forces  Even 

(SECOND  SALINE  FIGHT) 

A  few  days  had  elapsed  after  the  skirmish  on  Saline 
Creek,  when  Major  Jones  reached  Company  "D", 
encamped  on  Elm  Creek  near  its  junction  with  the 
San  Saba  River,  Menard  County.  The  Major  struck 
camp  within  200  yards  of  Company  "D"  and  the 
"boys"  that  were  on  the  escort  detail  were  "home 
again".  They  told  us  all  about  the  Lost  Valley  Fight. 

Next  morning  Major  Jones'  escort  were  all  saddled 
and  ready  to  mount,  when  two  men  whom  Captain 
Perry  had  sent  up  Elm  Creek  to  get  a  beef  came 
"sailing"  into  their  camp  and  informed  the  Major 
that  Indians  had  attacked  them  about  five  miles  from 
camp.  One  of  them  continued  on  a  dead  run  to  Com- 
pany "D"  camp  and  told  me  what  had  occurred. 
Captain  Perry  was  up  at  the  Major's  camp,  and  I  did 
not  wait  for  any  orders  from  superior  officers,  but 
told  the  man  to  go  "  flying ' '  to  the  horse  herd  and  tell 
the  horse  guard  to  get  the  horses  to  camp  as  quickly  as 
it  could  be  done.  In  the  meantime,  I  detailed  a  squad 
of  nine  men  to  go  with  me.  John  Staggs,  a  young  man 
who  lived  in  Menard  County,  was  in  our  camp  at  the 
time  and  accompanied  the  detail.  He  was  armed  and 
took  an  active  part  in  the  fight  which  followed. 


46  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

Major  Jones'  escort  had  moved  out,  with  a  man  to 
show  them  the  trail,  and  were  half  an  hour  ahead  of 
me.  As  soon  as  we  could  saddle  our  horses  we  mounted 
and  struck  a  gallop,  taking  a  course  a  little  south  of 
the  direction  the  escort  had  taken.  I  had  flankers  out 
on  each  side,  so  that  we  could  not  run  over  the  trail 
without  seeing  it.  We  kept  this  speed  for  a  distance  of 
about  eight  miles  when  we  came  in  sight  of  men  riding 
briskly  to  the  south,  and  near  the  head  of  Saline  Creek. 
I  thought  we  had  sighted  the  Indians,  but  when  I  got 
nearer  I  saw  that  it  was  the  escort,  under  command 
of  Lieutenant  Best,  and  on  the  trail  of  the  Indians. 
I  thought  they  were  going  a  little  too  slow,  as  the 
Indians  would  soon  reach  a  shelter  of  thickets  and 
timber  unknown  to  Lieutenant  Best.  Since  Lieutenant 
Best  was  my  superior  officer,  I  put  my  wits  to  work 
quickly,  to  master  the  situation.  He  had  two  men 
ahead  of  him  trailing  the  Indians,  but  I  thought  them 
too  slow  a  "fuse"  to  fire  in  time.  I  rode  up  to  the 
side  of  Lieutenant  Best  and  asked  him  if  I  might  assist 
those  men  in  trailing,  to  which  he  replied  "Certainly, 
do  so".  Then  I  had  my  cue.  I  lost  no  time  in  getting 
to  them  and  struck  a  gallop  on  the  trail.  I  knew  what 
would  follow  and  looked  back  and  saw  my  men  com- 
ing after  me  like  stampeded  cattle.  I  have  never  been 
quite  able  to  justify  my  rude  conduct  toward  a  super- 
ior officer,  but  I  knew  something  had  to  be  done 
quickly.  The  clatter  of  hoofs  was  so  fast  that  escort 
did  not  know  whether  they  were  on  the  Indian  trail 
or  not. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  47 

The  trail  went  down  a  tributary  of  the  Saline  about 
two  miles  and  turned  abruptly  up  another  tributary 
of  the  same  stream,  making  a  V,  and  leading  back 
northwest  to  the  prairie  again.  Within  two  miles  of 
their  turn,  I  came  in  sight  of  them.  They  were  riding 
leisurely  and  saw  us  coming  about  the  time  we 
discovered  them,  but  did  not  attempt  to  run.  I  saw 
they  were  going  to  give  us  a  fight.  I  had  time  to  talk 
my  men  down  into  perfect  calmness.  I  impressed 
upon  them  not  to  over  shoot  the  enemy,  but  rather  to 
aim  low  and  kill  the  horses  in  preference  to  missing 
entirely. 

When  we  reached  nearly  within  firing  distance  of 
them,  their  commander  was  riding  with  their  rear  file 
and  quickly  gave  his  horse  a  cut  and  raced  to  the  head 
of  the  column.  Facing  the  men  about,  left  into  line, 
they  were  spaced  at  proper  intervals.  It  was  as  pretty 
a  military  movement  as  I  ever  saw.  At  that  moment 
I  broke  column  left  into  line  and  took  intervals,  but 
did  not  check  my  speed. 

They  fired  on  us,  but  I  did  not  return  the  fire,  but 
kept  on  the  charge  until  we  were  in  easy  pistol  shot 
of  them,  when  I  ordered  a  halt  and  dismounted.  They 
expected  us  to  charge  into  them,  as  that  is  their  favor- 
ite way  of  fighting,  horseback. 

Our  respective  positions  threw  their  commander 
on  the  right  of  his  men  and  myself  on  the  left  of  mine. 
I  did  not  dismount  myself,  and  seeing  the  Indian  com- 
mander make  a  movement  toward  me,  I  met  him  half 


48  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

way,  but  before  we  got  together  he  shot  my  horse  in 
the  shoulder,  and  thinking  my  horse  might  fall  and 
catch  me  under  him,  I  jumped  clear  of  the  saddle  to 
the  ground.  Just  at  that  moment  he  jumped  off  his 
horse  and  we  came  together  on  foot.  He  tried  his 
"war  dance"  on  me  to  draw  my  fire,  but  I  held  my 
gun  on  him  until  he  would  settle  down  so  I  would  not 
miss  him.  Seeing  that  his  tactics  would  not  work  with 
me,  he  tried  to  get  a  little  further  from  me.  In  my 
eagerness  to  "  f ix "  him  I  did  fire  and  missed  him,  but 
before  he  could  straighten  for  position  to  shoot,  I  put 
a  bullet  in  the  right  place.  Corporal  Thurlow  Weed, 
seeing  I  was  in  a  tight  place,  was  the  first  man  to  get 
to  me.  There  was  another  Indian  close  to  me,  shooting 
at  me  with  the  same  kind  of  a  gun  that  I  was  using. 
I  pointed  him  out  to  Weed  and  he  came  down  upon  his 
knee  with  his  rifle  in  deadly  aim,  as  though  he  was 
shooting  for  beef,  and  at  the  fire  of  his  gun  the  Indian 
sprang  into  the  air  and  flattened  out,  face  foremost. 
The  Indians  seeing  this,  and  that  their  commander 
was  gone,  showed  signs  of  retreat  and  I  "yelled"  to 
my  men  to  charge  them. 

Then  the  race  began.  My  poor  old  horse  stood 
trembling,  close  to  me,  and  I  examined  his  wound  has- 
tily and  saw  that  the  ball  had  struck  pretty  high  up 
in  the  shoulder,  and  thought  he  might  carry  me  a 
little  further,  so  I  mounted  to  follow  the  chase.  My 
horse  staggered  off  with  me  a  short  distance  and 
gradually  recovered  until  within  a  short  distance 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  49 

further  he  was  at  his  best  speed  again ;  within  one  mile 
I  was  in  the  lead  again.  Private  George  Bryant  was 
riding  the  shabbiest  looking  horse  in  the  company, 
but  he  had  the  blood  of  a  "stayer"  and  he  kept  by  my 
side  until  we  reached  gunshot  of  the  two  rear  Indians, 
both  riding  one  horse.  Bryant  checked  up  enough  to 
steady  himself  and  fired  at  them,  striking  the  hind 
rider  in  the  back  of  his  head,  which  needs  no  further 
explanation.  The  front  rider  still  plied  his  quirt, 
but  his  horse  was  failing  and  I  soon  got  to  him.  He 
jumped  off  his  horse  and  threw  up  his  hands  in  sur- 
render, telling  me  in  Spanish  that  he  was  a  friend. 
Notwithstanding  I  had  sworn  ' '  vengeance ' '  and  sworn 
that  a  Comanche  could  not  surrender  to  me,  this  fellow, 
standing  before  me  in  human  shape,  begging  for  his 
life,  was  more  than  I  could  stand.  I  took  his  arms 
and  held  him  there  until  help  came  to  me.  Thur- 
lor  Weed  was  one  of  the  first  men  to  me  again.  I 
hastily  left  the  Indian  in  Weed's  charge,  telling  him 
to  let  no  one  hurt  him.  I  resumed  the  chase  quickly, 
having  several  men  with  me  then.  (But  before  I  pro- 
ceed further,  I  will  say  that  this  Corporal  Thurlow 
Weed  was  a  nephew  of  the  noted  Thurlow  Weed  of 
New  York.) 

Within  two  miles  further  we  were  up  again  and  ex- 
changing "hot  compliments"  with  them.  We  made 
two  more  "good  Indians"  in  that  round.  Our  horses 
being  exhausted,  and  my  horse  having  cooled  a  little 
by  the  check,  could  go  no  further.  Just  at  this  June- 


50  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

ture,  Lieutenant  Best,  with  two  men  got  to  us,  and 
the  Indians  being  faintly  in  sight  yet,  he  struck  the 
"dead  run"  for  them. 

To  camp,  about  15  miles  distant  was  our  next  move. 
I  mounted  a  horse,  and  with  his  owner  up  behind  me 
we  rode  "double"  into  camp.  Two  men  stayed  with 
my  horse  and  succeeded  in  getting  him  to  camp  late 
that  night.  My  horse  lived  and  did  good  service  after- 
ward. 

When  we  arrived  at  camp,  Weed  was  there  with  his 
Indian,  and  had  him  at  a  big  bright  guard  fire.  I  will 
never  forget  how  that  poor  devil  looked — just  as 
though  he  thought  that  fire  had  been  made  to  cremate 
him.  Now  to  account  for  the  hat  taken  in  the  first 
skirmish.  It  was  shown  to  the  Indian  and  he  claimed 
it  and  put  on  his  head. 

We  will  now  follow  Lieut.  Best  to  the  wind-up  of 
the  day.  After  a  run  of  three  or  four  miles,  he  reached 
gunshot  of  them  again,  and  shots  were  exchang- 
ed until  the  Indians  reached  a  safe  cover,  in  a  place 
that  they  had  evidently  been  making  for.  It  was  a 
short  canyon,  emptying  into  Las  Moras  Creek,  and 
at  its  head  it  shelved  under,  making  a  big  space  they 
could  take  their  horses  under,  and  no  approach  to  it 
except  the  way  they  went  into  it.  So  Lieutenant  Best 
would  edge  around  until  he  could  see  under  the  shelv- 
ing rocks  and  give  them  a  fire  occasionally,  but  prob- 
ably with  no  effect.  He,  however,  had  wounded  one 
or  two  of  them  before  they  reached  this  place.  Dark 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  51 

coming  on,  Lieutenant  Best  would  not  give  it  up.  He 
sent  a  man  to  Menardville,  about  eight  miles  away,  for 
help.  He  and  one  man  stayed  there  to  watch  as  best 
they  could.  And  near  daylight,  next  morning,  his 
succor  came.  But  the  danger  of  the  Indians  having 
fortified  their  position  so  as  to  make  attack  deadly 
from  the  outside  they  waited  until  good  daylight  to 
make  it.  They  ventured  cautiously  until  they  saw  the 
Indians  had  escaped. 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  53 


The  Wind  Up" 

Now  we  will  trace  this  band  of  Indians  to  a  finish. 
General  McKinzey,  commanding  the  4th  Cavalry, 
United  States  Army,  had  made  a  scout  to  near  the 
headwaters  of  the  Clear  fork  of  the  Brazos  River, 
and  had  encountered  nearly  the  whole  tribe  of  the 
Comanche  Indians,  in  which  he  used  them  up  pretty 
badly.  But,  having  only  the  4th  Cavalry  with  him, 
his  fight  had  just  begun.  They  rallied  and  pursued 
him  for  several  days,  making  their  attacks  at  night. 

General  McKinzey  had  captured  the  greater  number 
of  their  horses  in  the  first  engagement,  and  that  fact 
caused  them  to  be  more  persistent.  He  also  had  some 
prisoners.  The  Indians  tried  to  stampede  the  horses 
at  night.  McKinzey  was  a  "born  fighter"  and  the 
4th  Cavalrjy  stood  for  anything  he  would  undertake. 
Seeing  his  men  and  horses  were  becoming  exhausted, 
he  rounded  up  the  Indian  horses  and  had  them  shot 
down  in  a  pile.  Then  he  resumed  his  march  toward 
Fort  McKavett  on  the  head  of  the  San  Saba  River. 

When  his  command  reached  the  Concho  River,  com- 
ing south,  they  spied  two  Indians  coming  to  meet  them. 
It  was  open  prairie  and  their  escape  was  impossible, 
so  they  "squared  themselves"  to  fight  the  whole  regi- 
ment. But  the  fight  didn't  last  long,  with  no  casual- 


54  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

ties  except  to  " plant"  two  more  of  them.  These  two 
Indians  connect  General  McKinzey's  scout  with  my 
accounting  for  the  band  we  were  first  in  pursuit  of. 
As  the  direction  they  had  taken  and  the  time  to  make 
the  distance  was  so  perfectly  coincident  that  I  know 
they  were  two  of  the  Indians  that  escaped  from  Lieu- 
tenant Best  on  the  Las  Moras. 

There  was  an  Englishman  by  the  name  of  Kemp, 
who  had  belonged  to  Company  "D"  of  the  Frontier 
Battalion,  who  had  gone  to  Fort  Sill  and  was  on  the 
watch  of  movements  of  the  good  Indians  on  that  Res- 
ervation. Some  time  had  elapsed  when  a  lone  Indian 
came  into  Fort  Sill.  Mr.  Kemp  found  that  this  Indian 
was  one  of  the  band  we  had  been  after,  and  secured 
his  picture,  sent  it  back  to  the  "boys"  in  camp,  say- 
ing: "This  is  the  only  one  of  them  that  got  back". 

We  will  now  follow  the  captive  Indian  to  his  end. 
Next  morning  after  the  fight,  Captain  Perry  ordered 
a  squad  to  take  him  to  Austin  and  turn  him  over  to  the 
Governor  of  the  state.  He  was  put  on  a  pack  mule, 
his  feet  fastened  together  under  the  mule,  so  that  he 
could  not  jump  off  in  passing  through  brushy  places 
and  make  his  escape.  He  could  ride  comfortably. 
When  he  was  fastened  in  that  manner,  again  he  looked 
like  he  thought  it  was  "goodbye  John"  with  him. 
The  guard  landed  him  in  Austin  safely.  Governor 
Coke  said  he  was  a  state 's  prisoner,  but  the  expense  of 
keeping  him  did  not  belong  to  any  one  county  and  he 
sent  him  to  the  state  prison  at  Huntsville.  He  was 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  55 

not  required  to  work  and  only  held  there  for  safe 
keeping.  He  found  company  there  in  the  person  of 
old  Santana,  who  was  sent  there  for  some  horrible 
murders  on  our  frontier.  The  old  chief  recognized 
him  readily  and  said  he  was  23  years  old  and  his  name 
was  Little  Bull  of  the  Comanche  tribe. 

Little  Bull  got  fat  and  saucy,  but  two  years  of  con- 
finement was  too  much  for  him  and  he  died  of  con- 
sumption. He  was  held  with  a  view  of  a  probable 
exchange  for  some  of  our  own  unfortunate  prisoners. 
This  ends  that  raid  by  the  Indians. 

The  conditions  on  the  frontier  of  Texas  at  that  time 
is  why  the  Frontier  Battalion  was  put  in  the  service  of 
the  State.  The  Indian  Bureau  was  put  into  the  hands 
and  management  of  a  Quaker  policy,  as  it  was  called 
and  sentiment  ruled  it,  more  than  proper  executive 
ability.  Fennimore  Cooper 's  '  *  noble  red  man ' '  seemed 
to  be  the  leading  spirit  of  sympathy  and  the  dastardly 
murders  of  our  people  were  readily  forgiven,  on  that 
score. 

There  was  a  bill  introduced  in  Congress  to  turn  over 
the  Indian  Bureau  to  the  War  Department  or  to  the 
Army.  Senator  Coke  of  Texas  spoke  in  favor  of  the 
measure,  saying  in  part:  "You  may  treat  with  the 
Indian,  and  he  accepts  your  gifts,  but  he  takes  them 
as  a  concession  to  his  prowess,  and  asks  for  more  pow- 
der and  lead  to  kill  our  people. ' '  He  added  that  the 
only  thing  you  can  teach  an  Indian  is  fear.  But  Sena- 
tor Coke  did  not  stop  there;  he  pleaded  with  "Uncle 


56  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

Sam"  for  indemnity  for  the  money  Texas  had  to 
spend  for  protection,  and  it  was  partially  paid  to 
the  state.  Paying  this  money  to  Texas  was  an  acknowl- 
edgement by  the  government  of  default  in  our  pro- 
tection. ''Uncle  Sam"  was  not  exactly  in  the  life 
insurance  business,  but  should  have  been,  under  the 
chartered  rights  of  Texas. 

The  bill  introduced  in  Congress  transferring  the 
Indian  Bureau  to  the  War  Department  was  passed. 
We  then  looked  for  a  change  for  the  better,  but  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  only  a  few  of  the  regular  army 
officers  got  out  of  the  Rip  Van  Winkle  column.  How- 
ever, I  will  mention  two  who  did  excellent  work  on 
the  Texas  frontier.  They  were  General  McKinzey  and 
Captain  Bullis. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  57 


Third  Saline  Fight 

About  the  last  of  November,  in  1874,  I  moved  camp 
south  15  or  20  miles,  to  the  Little  Saline  Creek  in 
Mason  County  and  made  winter  quarters  there. 

Early  one  morning  in  December,  Mr.  Moore,  a 
ranchman,  came  to  my  camp  and  informed  me  that 
the  night  just  past  the  Indians  had  stolen  all  their 
horses,  passing  out  in  a  northerly  direction.  I  was 
not  well  that  morning,  but  quickly  detailed  a  scout 
to  follow  them,  Sergeant  N.  0.  Reynolds  in  charge 
of  scout.  Sergeant  Reynolds  struck  west  to  get  the 
trail  and  in  eight  miles  from  camp  he  came  upon  the 
trail,  going  north. 

On  account  of  the  very  heavy  rains  just  before  this 
he  had  no  trouble  to  follow  the  trail.  Within  ten  miles 
from  where  they  struck  the  trail  they  came  in  sight 
of  the  Indians.  The  Indians  numbered  about  ten  and 
the  scouts  about  eight.  The  Indians  were  hard  to  beat 
in  management  and  were  very  quick  to  act.  They 
were  some  distance  from  the  scout,  and  the  ground 
being  very  boggy,  they  started  on  a  retreat  but  at 
slow  speed.  The  distance  between  the  scout  and  the 
Indians  was  about  a  mile.  The  Indians  no  doubt 
expected  the  scout  would  cover  the  distance  as  quickly 
as  possible  and  break  down  their  horses  in  doing  so. 
And  that  was  practically  the  result. 


58  BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

But  three  of  my  men  were  mounted  on  good,  big 
Spanish  horses  that  held  their  speed  and  kept  the 
interval  closed  about  the  same  for  five  or  six  miles, 
through  the  mud  nearly  knee  deep,  when  my  "boys" 
discovered  the  Indians '  horses  were  weakening.  Then 
for  a  fight,  was  in  order.  My  men  knew  that  help 
was  impossible,  as  they  had  left  all  the  others  early  in 
the  chase.  James  Hawkins,  John  Cupp  and  William 
Springer  were  the  men  who  overtook  them.  They 
determined  to  fight  it  out  if  not  one  of  them  ever 
returned  to  camp.  So,  very  soon,  the  firing  com- 
menced. The  country  was  open,  practically  a  prairie. 
The  Indians  tried  a  flank  movement  on  them  several 
times  in  order  to  surround  them,  but  my  men  caught 
the  move  in  time  and  would  give  back  a  little,  break- 
ing  their  strength  in  the  center  and  they  could  easily 
take  care  of  the  flankers.  So,  this  went  on,  probably 
two  hours.  My  men  had  the  best  of  it  in  horses,  as 
their  horses  were  strong,  on  grain,  and  the  Indian's 
horses  were  grass  fed.  During  the  fight  my  men  got 
two  of  them  "down  for  good,"  and  saw  them  drag 
off  another  one  with  a  rope  attached  to  a  horse,  which 
was  the  only  horse  they  got  away  with.  None  of  my 
"boys"  were  hurt.  After  a  little  relax  from  excite- 
ment and  fatigue  the  Bangers  began  to  gather  up 
their  horses  and  spoils  of  battle,  returning  to  camp 
late  in  the  night. 

Sergeant  Reynolds  had  come  into  camp  late  in  the 
evening  and  reported  the  last  he  had  seen  of  the 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  59 

three  men  they  were  still  in  pursuit  of  the  Indians. 
At  nightfall  everything  in  camp  was  deathly  still. 
You  could  see  men  in  little  groups  discussing  in  a  low 
voice  what  might  have  befallen  "Jim"  Hawkins, 
Cupp  and  Springer.  Some  were  listening  for  sounds 
of  hoofs  or  any  token  of  their  approach.  Finally  one 
man  said  he  heard  the  sound  of  horses  coming,  and 
human  voices,  and  still  all  was  anxiety.  When  they 
came  up  to  the  corral  one  of  them  sung  out  "all's 
well."  Then  the  yell  in  camp  went  up  which  paid  for 
all  our  anxiety. 

If  we  may  claim  any  credit  for  service  in  the  fron- 
tier battalion,  we  a"re  inclined  to  give  it  to  the  brave 
men  who  did  the  fighting,  at  least,  in  a  great  measure. 
They  were  all  "generals."  When  we  detailed  a  man 
to  go  anywhere  to  make  an  arrest  or  do  any  par- 
ticular work,  we  didn't  have  to  send  another  man 
with  him  to  tell  him  what  to  do. 

My  men  had  lost  their  pack  mule  in  the  fight,  as 
they  were  so  busy  looking  after  their  own  hair  just 
then,  the  mule  had  to  take  care  of  itself.  When  they 
rounded  up  the  remains  of  the  battle  and  started  for 
camp  the  mule  was  missing.  It  had  followed  them  by 
sight  or  trailed  them  in  the  long  chase,  and  soon  after 
they  engaged  the  Indians  the  mule  was  with  them. 
The  next  morning  I  took  four  men  with  me  and  went 
to  the  battle  ground,  and  took  the  mule 's  trail,  which 
led  me  up  on  a  little  ridge  or  raise  of  ground,  where 
the  Indians  had  made  their  first  stand.  The  mule's 


60  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

trail  led  me  directly  to  where  one  of  the  Indians  lay 
dead,  and  I  could  see  along  the  trail  and  nearby  this 
dead  Indian  where  he  had  tried  to  catch  the  mule,  but 
failed;  every  track  showed  plainly  in  the  mud.  The 
trail  of  the  mule  led  north  from  there,  and  within 
five  miles,  came  to  the  Las  Moras  Creek  which  led 
east  to  Menardville  and  landed  in  one  of  my  old 
camps  safely  with  her  pack.  The  people  there  were 
uneasy,  as  they  knew  the  mule  and  thought  some- 
thing serious  had  happened  to  us.  We  hurried  to 
catch  up  with  the  mule,  but  knew  she  was  safe  from 
the  lead  of  her  trail.  I  had  been  reported  killed  once 
before  that,  "but  I  knew  it  was  not  true  when  I 
heard  it."  Our  pack  mules  in  the  service  displayed 
almost  human  intelligence  and  were  our  faithful 
friends.  When  we  lost  our  pack  mule  in  the  Staked 
Plains  fight,  it  was  not  regretted  as  merely  the  loss 
of  a  mule,  but  with  sorrow  for  the  poor  mule's  sake. 
It  was  late  when  we  got  our  mule,  at  Menardville, 
and  slushy  snow  and  mud  being  bad  we  camped 
there  that  night  and  returned  to  camp  on  the  Saline 
the  next  day,  the  distance  being  25  miles. 

Old  Company  D  turned  out  five  captains  of  com- 
panies, who  served  in  the  Frontier  Battalion  after 
Captain  Perry  who  was  its  first  commander.  They 
were  respectively,  Captain  D.  W.  Roberts,  Captain 
L.  P.  Seiker,  Captain  N.  0.  Reynolds,  Captain  C.  L. 
Neville  and  Captain  Frank  Jones.  Captain  Roberts 
gave  the  last  four  named  their  first  non-commissioned 
offices. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  61 


Moved  Camp  to  Las  Moras 

About  the  first  of  June  in  1875,  I  moved  camp  to 
Las  Moras  Creek,  being  north  of  my  little  Saline 
camp  about  twenty  miles,  and  four  miles  east  of  the 
town,  Menardville.  By  this  time  the  citizens  had 
learned  that  we  were  good  neighbors  and  began  to 
fall  into  line.  They  could  see  the  gleam  of  hope  and 
our  presence  cheered  them.  They  could  see  that  they 
would  become  the  rightful  lords  of  that  beautiful 
country.  They  would  ride  to  the  camp  from  many 
miles  away  no  matter  how  dark  the  night,  to  give  me 
information  regarding  Indians  or  outlaws.  I  had 
become  acquainted  with  some  young  men  in  the 
country  there  that  wanted  to  help  us  and  when  oppor- 
tunity offered  I  would  enlist  them  in  the  service. 
They  were  mostly  cattle  men  and  their  range  riding 
was  many  miles  around  the  ranches.  This  gave  me  a 
prestige  in  their  knowing  of  every  water  hole  and 
spring  of  water  in  all  the  arid  region  adjoining  the 
Staked  Plains.  The  people  began  to  find  out  that 
this  was  a  citizen  soldiery,  organized  under  the  same 
power  that  puts  our  militia  in  the  field  and  the 
Ranger  felt  that  his  backing  was  from  the  State  of 
Maine  to  California  and  from  Canada  to  the  most 
Southern  point  in  Texas.  He  felt  that  he  had  very 


62  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

distinguished  relatives,  from  '  *  Uncle  Sam ' '  to  our  big 
cousins,  the  States,  and  he  was  ordered  and  disciplined 
accordingly.  The  name,  Ranger,  was  born  in  the 
Republic  of  Texas  when  great  men  were  on  guard 
for  the  welfare  of  their  young  venture.  They  may 
have  done  some  things  under  emergency,  that  lent 
a  little  romance  to  the  name,  which  yet  seems  to  attach 
to  the  name  Ranger.  "When  Texas  was  admitted  into 
the  sisterhood  of  States,  the  name  Ranger  was  tactily 
incorporated  into  her  constitution,  meaning  her 
militia. 

As  time  passed  on  our  neighbors  began  to  think 
that  the  Rangers  were  decent  fellows.  Some  of  the 
Rangers  were  graduates  from  the  best  schools  in  the 
country.  But  their  Ranger  education  was  along  dif- 
ferent lines.  They  had  learned  to  cope  with  the 
"Wild  Bills"  and  bad  men  from  "Bitter  Creek." 
The  young  ladies  and  gentlemen  began  to  visit  us  in 
camp  and  the  girls  would  eat  beans  with  us  at  the  mess 
tables.  The  Rangers  viewed  them  as  beautiful  mes- 
sengers of  peace.  We  could  see  that  social  conditions 
were  improving;  in  a  short  time  you  could  see  some 
of  the  "boys"  with  standing  collars  on.  Think  of 
it,  a  Ranger  with  a  standing  collar  on.  They  began  to 
name  each  other  "Society  Jake,  400  Jim,  Ward  Mc- 
Allister, Oscar  Wilde,"  and  the  like.  When  they 
were  fitting  out  for  a  baile  (dance)  you  could  see  a 
fellow  rustling  all  the  tents  for  a  suit  of  clothes  and 
the  other  fellows  threatening  to  follow  him  and  tell 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY        .  63 

who  the  clothes  belonged  to.  About  that  time  the 
racket  dance  was  introduced  and  they  practiced  it  in 
camp,  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word.  The  Rangers 
made  up  an  amateur  troupe  and  secured  some  of  De- 
Witt's  light  draft  plays,  which  they  could  execute 
with  credit  before  any  kind  of  an  audience.  We  had 
a  very  good  string  band.  Such  were  the  pleasure 
hours  of  Ranger  life.  They  nearly  all  became  good 
cooks  and  when  dinner  was  ready  you  could  hear  some 
fellow  sing  out  from  his  mess  table,  Delmonico  "wal- 
loping good  truck."  We  had  fish  when  we  wanted 
them,  and  all  kinds  of  wild  game.  When  we  packed 
a  mule  for  a  scout  we  invariably  tied  a  chopping  axe 
on  the  pack  to  cut  bee  trees,  and  had  all  the  honey 
We  could  "say  grace  over."  Where  is  the  country 
on  this  continent  that  Texas  once  was  ?  Echo  answers 
— where?  The  answer  may  come  that  agriculture 
and  other  great  improvements  makes  her  first.  But, 
shorn  of  nature's  wealth,  she  only  becomes  a  compet- 
itor with  other  states. 

A  little  while  after  I  had  moved  camp  to  Las  Moras 
I  got  a  telegram  from  Adjutant-general  Steele,  from 
headquarters  at  Austin,  "To  go  to  Colorado  City  as 
quickly  as  the  stage  could  take  me  there ;  travel  day 
and  night."  The  meaning  of  this  was  that  Captain 
Marsh's  Rangers  had  killed  a  "cattle  man"  by  the 
name  of  Patterson  and  telegrams  were  flying  to  Aus- 
tin, "That  a  citizen  had  been  shot  down  in  cold  blood." 
Colorado  City  was  then  a  town  of  tents  at  the  end  of 


64  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

the  Texas  Pacific  Railroad,  in  its  construction.  I 
got  there  and  said  nothing  about  my  business  until 
I  could  find  out  the  truth  of  what  had  happened. 
I  went  to  A.  W.  Dunn  &  Co.,  merchants  there  and 
"felt  of  them  softly,"  when  I  found  out  that  they 
were  non-partisan  and  were  not  mixed  up  in  it  in  any 
way,  and  from  them  I  got  a  start  to  investigate. 
They  sent  me  to  the  railroad  agent,  Mr.  Stocking, 
and  Mr.  Stocking  showed  me  the  bullet  holes  shot 
through  his  car  by  Mr.  Patterson  and  others  while  his 
family  was  in  the  car.  I  felt  a  delicacy  in  invading 
Captain  Marsh's  headquarters  on  such  business,  but 
I  was  under  orders.  I  met  Captain  Marsh  in  the  mean- 
time and  told  him  my  business.  He  was  very  glad 
to  see  me  there  and  more  than  glad,  as  it  relieved 
him  of  embarrassment. 

Mr.  Patterson,  while  under  the  influence  of  liquor, 
had  made  some  very  disparaging  remarks  about  the 
Rangers  and  emphasized  them  with  "sulphurous" 
language.  Captain  Marsh  had  but  one  arm,  having 
lost  one  in  the  Confederate  Army.  But  the  arm  he 
had  was  "game  to  the  shoulder"  and  he  lit  into 
Patterson,  when  a  good  fisticuff  followed.  This  some- 
what disqualified  Captain  Marsh  to  deal  with  what 
followed.  Mr.  Patterson  was  a  well-to-do  ranchman, 
and  said  to  be  a  good  man  when  not  under  bad  influ- 
ences. The  town  was  full  of  cow  punchers  and  bad 
men  and  women,  and  they  egged  Patterson  on  to  defy 
the  law.  Three  Rangers  were  detailed  to  keep  order 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  65 

in  the  town.  Mr.  Patterson  was  disturbing  the  peace, 
and  was  armed,  and  the  Rangers  arrested  him  several 
times,  and  would  take  him  before  the  justice  of  the 
peace  and  that  dignitary  would  turn  him  loose  by  fi- 
ning him  one  dollar.  The  Rangers  told  Patterson  that 
they  would  kill  him  if  he  didn't  stop  it.  So  he  persisted 
in  "painting  the  town  red"  and  they  did  kill  him. 
I  made  my  report  to  the  Adjutant-general,  according 
to  the  facts,  and  returned  to  my  own  company. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  67 


The  Staked  Plains  Fight 

In  August,  1875,  a  band  of  Indians  came  down 
into  Kimble,  Mason  and  Menard  counties,  entering 
Kimble  County  first,  then  east  into  Mason,  and  out 
north  through  Menard  County.  Near  the  line  of 
Kimble  and  Mason  Counties  stood  a  little  flat-topped 
mountain,  overlooking  the  Kimble  and  Mason  road. 
Those  Indians  had  two  prisoners  with  them,  one  was 
a  white  boy  named  Fisher,  whom  they  had  captured 
in  Mason  County  when  he  was  quite  young,  and  the 
other  one  was  a  Mexican  boy  that  they  had  captured 
in  Uvalde  County.  Both  had  grown  up  to  be  nearly 
men. 

The  Indians  left  these  two  boys,  on  top  of  the  little 
mountain  to  spy  out  on  the  road  for  any  passers,  or 
pursuers,  while  they  diverged  south,  into  Major  Seth 
Mabry's  pasture,  to  collect  horses.  While  those  boys 
were  on  top  of  the  mountain,  at  their  post,  C.  C.  Smith 
and  another  cattleman  came  along  the  road.  The 
white  boy,  Fisher,  proposed  to  the  Mexican,  that  they 
go  down  and  kill  them,  but  the  Mexican  wouldn  't  agree 
to  it.  Why  I  knew  all  this  will  be  explained  later,  by 
my  capturing  the  Mexican,  and  getting  his  own  story 
in  broken  Spanish,  his  having  almost  lost  his  mother 
tongue  from  long  Indian  captivity. 


68  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

I  was  then  encamped  on  the  Las  Moras,  about  50 
miles  north  of  where  they  were  raiding.  A  messenger 
came  to  my  camp,  from  Mason  County  and  informed 
me  of  the  raid,  and  told  me  where  they  were  last  seen, 
and  the  way  they  were  "headed"  coming  out.  I  had 
no  time  to  lose,  as  I  knew  they  would  travel  at  night. 
I  started  east  with  eight  men  and  within  12  miles  came 
upon  their  trail.  I  had  no  trouble  to  follow  it,  as  they 
had  stolen  a  big  lot  of  horses.  I  pushed  ahead  on  their 
trail,  hoping  to  catch  them  before  night,  but  they  had 
too  much  time  on  me,  and  nightfall  caught  me,  just 
where  they  crossed  the  Fort  McKavett  and  Concho 
road.  I  looked  ahead,  in  their  direction,  and  could  see 
the  little  Lipan  Mountains  on  the  head  of  the  South 
Concho,  and  I ' '  figured ' '  they  would  rest  there,  where 
they  could  spy  back  on  their  trail.  I  turned  north,  on 
the  Concho  road,  and  traveled  that  night  to  Kickapoo 
Springs,  where  I  could  get  horses'  shoes,  my  horse 
having  cast  two  of  his  shoes  that  day,  and  broken  his 
hoofs,  so  that  he  was  almost  past  shoeing.  We  shod  up, 
by  firelight,  and  was  riding  by  daylight,  north,  on 
the  Concho  road,  with  flankers  on  either  side,  so  we 
would  cross  no  trails  without  seeing  them.  We  came 
to  Lipan  Springs,  15  or  20  miles  from  Kickapoo,  and 
from  Lipan,  we  bore  northwest  completely  surrounding 
the  Lipan  Mountains.  On  that  day's  march  I  rode 
upon  a  " rattler"  and  got  my  horse  snake-bitten.  I 
changed  off  to  a  pack  mule,  but  I  knew  the  mule  and 
and  knew  she  was  a  "dandy",  and  could  run  like  a 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  69 

red  fox.  I  left  a  man  with  my  horse,  to  get  him  back 
to  Lipan  Springs,  and  take  care  of  him.  We  reached 
"Wash"  De  Long's  camp  that  night,  on  the  head  of 
South  Concho,  where  he  was  taking  out  an  irrigation 
ditch.  ''Wash"  was  an  old-timer,  and  had  been  shot, 
and  maimed  by  the  Indians,  but  still  insisted  on  living 
where  he  pleased.  He  gave  me  considerable  informa- 
tion, as  to  their  pass-ways,  in  and  out.  Next  morning 
I  bore  a  little  south  of  west,  to  catch  their  trail,  after 
their  passing  through  the  Lipan  Mountains.  About 
18  miles  from  De  Long's  camp,  I  came  upon  the  Indian 
camp,  where  they  had  left  that  morning.  Then  the 
race  for  that  day  began.  They  skirted  the  head  brakes 
of  the  Conchos,  and  night  caught  me  again,  where  they 
had  reached  a  high  table  land,  known  as  the  Staked 
Plains.  I  was  very  close  to  them  at  night. 

I  pulled  a  little  off  of  the  trail,  and  wouldn't  let 
a  man  strike  a  match  to  smoke,  as  they  could  see  a 
light  a  long  distance  in  that  country.  By  daylight  I 
was  in  the  saddle,  and  going  on  the  trail.  I  had  field 
glasses,  and  occasionally  would  look  for  them,  but  one 
Ranger's  eyes  beat  my  glasses.  He  sung  out  "yonder 
they  are".  I  put  my  glasses  on  his  object,  and  saw 
them  plainly.  They  were  just  moving  out  from  their 
camp,  at  a  big  lake  of  water,  which  was  unknown  to 
many  white  men.  The  Mexicans  told  me  afterwards, 
that  one  of  them  said,  as  they  moved  out  from  camp, 
that  no  white  man  would  ever  come  there,  and  if  they 
did  he  could  whip  ten  of  them.  So,  you  see,  the  red 


70  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

man  is  not  immune  from  braggadocio.  It  was  not  an 
hour  until  he  had  a  test  of  it.  Now,  to  get  them,  in 
that  open  plain.  The  sun  was  just  up  good,  and  put 
on  his  big  blaze  for  an  August  day ;  the  direction  they 
were  from  us,  nearly  lined  them  with  the  sun,  and  I  or- 
dered my  men  to  line  in  straight  behind  me,  in  single 
file,  which  would  only  show  a  breast  of  one  man.  They 
did,  and  tracked  as  plumb  as  a  new  wagon.  I  got  near- 
ly in  shooting  distance  of  those  fellows  before  they 
saw  me.  Two  of  the  Indians  were  loitering  along  be- 
hind the  main  squad,  who  were  driving  the  horses,  and 
about  two  hundred  yards  behind  them,  and  we  could 
have  shot  them  before  they  saw  us,  but  we  didn  't  want 
to  "flush"  the  main  bunch,  until  we  could  get  near 
enough  to  do  business.  When  the  two  Indians  saw  us, 
it  was  a  very  busy  time  with  them.  They  plied  their 
quirts,  and  yelled  to  their  comrades,  and  we  were  not 
losing  any  time  or  distance  on  them.  When  Indians  are 
driving  a  herd  of  stolen  horses,  they  leave  drag  ropes 
to  the  best  horses,  as  an  "emergency  clause".  In  this 
case,  they  barely  had  time  to  jump  down,  grab  ropes 
and  change  horses,  which  some  of  them  did,  leaving 
their  saddles  on  the  horses  they  had  so  unceremoniously 
quit.  They  ran  out,  into  line  and  ' '  squared  themselves 
for  the  charge".  I  played  my  old  ruse  on  them.  We 
ran  up  close  enough  to  do  good  work,  halted,  and  dis- 
mounted. I  always  figured  that  one  good  man  on  the 
ground,  with  a  gun  in  his  hands  was  worth  three  in 
the  saddle.  They  stood  one  good  round,  and  began  to 


E ANGERS  AND   SOVEREIGNTY  71 

smell  blood  and  left  there,  like  a  covey  of  quail.  There 
was  one  Indian  riding  ahead  of  them,  about  a  half  a 
mile,  who  had  not  seen,  or  heard  any  of  this,  and  when 
they  got  to  him,  he  rallied  them  and  they  made  another 
stand,  and  fought  like  demons  for  a  few  minutes. 
We  were  wounding  some  of  their  horses,  as  well  as 
warriors,  and  to  lose  a  horse,  right  then  was  ' '  goodbye 
John ' '  to  the  rider.  One  Indian 's  horse  was  shot  from 
under  him,  and  he  had  caught  the  same  bullet  through 
the  ankle,  but  didn't  break  the  bone,  and  he  jumped  up 
behind  the  young  man  Fisher,  on  a  big  stallion  that  be- 
longed to  John  Bright,  and  just  then,  they  began  to 
"hit  the  breeze"  in  different  directions. 

The  commander  of  the  Indians,  was  old  Magooshe, 
a  Lipan,  and  now  on  the  Mescalero  Reservation,  and 
claims  to  be  an  Apache.  Magooshe  broke  to  the  left, 
with  six  men,  and  I  put  in  after  him,  with  three  men, 
and  I  must  tell  you  who  those  brave  men  were.  They 
were  "Jim"  Hawkins,  Paul  Durham,  and  "Nick" 
Donley.  Donley  was  an  Irishman,  and  loved  peace, 
but  a  fight,  with  him,  was  a  mere  incident.  The  other 
Indians  broke  into  different  squads,  and  nj(y  men  after 
them.  We  pursued  Magooshe  and  his  party,  at  full 
speed,  for  three  or  four  miles,  when  we  saw  one  of  their 
horses  weakening,  and  gradually  falling  back,  and  we 
had  fired  several  times  at  the  rider.  All  of  a  sudden, 
the  rider  jerked  up  his  horse,  wheeled  him  about,  and 
came  back  to  meet  us,  and  yelling  in  broken  Spanish 
that  he  was  a  friend.  I  told  the  men  not  to  shoot  him. 


72  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

He  was  the  Mexican  captive  that  the  Indians  had  had 
so  long.  We  passed  the  Mexican,  with  the  brief  words 
to  Donley  to  ''stay  with  him,  until  we  returned".  We 
were  making  pretty  near  an  even  race,  in  distance,  with 
those  ahead  of  us,  and  could  see  blood  running  down 
one  of  their  backs.  A  distance  of  about  two  miles  fur- 
ther, our  own  horses  began  to  weaken,  and  we  could 
see  a  little  clump  of  mesquite  brush,  that  the  Indians 
were  making  for.  One  of  them  was  riding  a  fine  horse, 
that  belonged  to  Rans  Moore,  and  when  we  got  near 
the  brush  we  could  see  a  horse  tied  in  there.  We  shear- 
ed around,  on  either  side  of  the  brush,  but  could  see 
no  Indians  in  there.  We  looked  ahead  and  saw  them 
still  going.  We  pursued  them,  but  never  could  get 
much  closer.  We  could  see,  however,  that  two  of  them 
were  on  a  big  mare  mule,  that  also  belonged  to  John 
Bright.  We  kept  up  the  best  lick  we  could,  until  they 
gradually  went  out  of  sight.  We  could  nearly  read 
what  had  happened,  by  their  tying  Rans  Moore's 
horse  in  the  brush.  The  wounded  Indian  was  riding 
the  big  mule,  and  had  to  stop,  or  have  help.  The  other 
Indian  tied  his  horse  there,  jumped  up  behind  him, 
presumably  to  hold  him  on.  Why  he  tied  the  horse, 
was  thinking  we  might  check  to  reconnoitre  the  spot, 
and  give  them  more  distance  ahead  of  us.  The  little 
pack  mule  I  was  riding,  kept  an  easy  lead  all  day. 
' '  Don 't  talk  to  me  about  a  mule ' '.  If  he  will  run  at 
all,  and  you  give  him  a  starter,  you  will  never  catch 
him. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  73 

We  went  back  to  where  we  had  left  Donley  with  the 
Mexican,  no  Donley,  anywhere  in  sight.  The  tension  of 
excitement  was  abated,  and  we  could  think  more  about 
the  tired  condition  of  our  horses,  and  rode  at  a  mode- 
rate gait,  to  where  we  had  the  first  fight.  We  found 
Donley  there  with  the  prisoner.  He  explained  that, 
"after  staying  where  we  left  him,  several  hours,  he 
thought  we  might  never  return,  and  that  dreary  plain 
made  him  lonesome"  (Irish.)  The  other  men  had  all 
gotten  back,  and  gave  the  casualties  of  their  respective 
chases. 

Sergeant  Ed.  Seiker  and  J.  B.  Gillette  had  followed 
the  white  man,  (Fisher)  and  the  Indian  up  behind  him, 
on  a  "dead  run"  for  several  miles,  and  seeing  they 
were  outrunning  them,  both  on  one  horse,  Gillette 
jumped  off  his  horse,  took  a  long  shot  at  them,  and 
struck  their  horse,  just  back  of  the  ears,  when  he  fell 
like  a  ton  of  brick.  They  ran  up  to  the  horse,  and 
found  Fisher  pinioned  under  him,  and  Gillette  told 
Seiker  not  to  shoot  him,  that  he  was  a  white  man. 
The  Indian  rolled  off,  when  the  horse  fell,  and  dodged 
around  a  while,  but  they  soon  got  him.  When  they 
went  back  to  look  after  Fisher,  he  had  worked  him- 
self from  under  the  horse  and  was  gone.  They  thought 
he  couldn't  escape  in  that  open  plain.  The  grass  was 
high,  which  was  the  only  shelter.  When  they  told  me 
what  they  could  about  it,  I  sent  them  back  to  see  if 
they  could  find  him.  Then  the  sun  was  about  an  hour 


74  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

high,  and  didn't  give  much  time  to  hunt  him.  They 
returned,  at  dusk,  without  finding  him. 

We  found  then  that  we  had  nothing  to  eat,  having 
lost  our  pack  mule  in  the  race.  We  had  not  stopped, 
the  day  before,  to  cook  anything  and  were  feeling  like 
a  lot  of  hoboes,  on  a  western  railroad.  We  had  cap- 
tured a  big  lot  of  mustang  (wild  horse)  meat  from  the 
Indians,  but  it  was  only  barbecued  enough  to  make 
it  palatable  for  a  buzzard,  and  the  "boys"  only  sam- 
pled it  lightly.  It  was  about  70  miles  back  the  nearest 
way  to  "Wash"  De  Long's  camp,  on  the  head  of 
South  Concho,  and  we  had  a  herd  of  broken  down 
horses  to  drive.  It  took  us  nearly  two  days  to  get  into 
De  Long's  camp.  Some  of  the  boys  tried  prickly  pear 
apples,  but  it  didn't  take  long,  to  get  all  of  them  that 
were  good.  When  we  got  within  ten  miles  of  Mr.  De- 
Long  's  camp,  I  took  the  Mexican  with  me,  and  hurried 
on,  to  have  a  beef  killed,  and  get  something  for  the 
men  to  eat.  Arriving  at  the  camp,  I  found  Mr.  De 
Long  was  not  there,  but  that  fact  didn't  bother 
me  much.  I  went  into  his  little  cabin,  found  some  big 
pans  full  of  sweet  milk,  and  drank  milk  like  a  hungry 
porker,  and  gave  the  Mexican  his  fill  of  it.  Mr.  De 
Long  soon  came  in,  and  we  had  a  spread  for  the 
Rangers  that  tasted  superior  to  anything  that  Del- 
monico's  ever  served. 

We  will  tell  you  later,  all  about  Fisher.  Next  day, 
we  started  for  camp  on  Las  Moras,  (meaning  morass, 
or  marshy)  a  distance  of  about  a  hundred  miles,  but 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  75 

we  were  safe  for  "grub",  all  the  frontiersmen  made 
the  Rangers  as  welcome  as  the  "Flowers  in  May", 
besides  we  were  getting  back  to  our  backing,  by  the 
great  state  of  Texas.  A  few  days  after  we  got  to  camp, 
Major  Jones  arrived  there.  We  turned  the  Mexican 
over  to  him,  and  as  we  had  not  heard  of  his  people 
directly,  the  Major  thought  he  would  keep  the  Mexican 
with  him,  until  we  could  locate  his  people.  The  news- 
papers had  given  publicity  to  our  having  him,  and 
his  people  came  from  Uvalde  County,  and  got  him. 

Now,  to  account  for  Fisher.  Nearly  a  year  after 
this,  Fisher  was  found,  at  Fort  Sill,  with  the  Indians, 
and  parties  negotiated  for  him,  or  rather,  his  liberty, 
and  sent  him  back  to  his  people,  in  Mason  County, 
Texas.  Think  of  it.  To  buy  one  of  our  captive  peo- 
ple, from  a  savage  tribe  who  were  seeking  shelter,  un- 
der our  government. 

I  saw  Fisher  after  he  came  back,  and  had  a  talk 
with  him.  He  told  me  that  he  was  back  on  the  identi- 
cal ground,  where  the  horse  was  shot  from  under  him, 
and  could  tell  me  of  the  incidents  that  occurred  in 
that  fight,  that  I  had  forgotten.  He  told  me  that  when 
the  men  were  hunting  for  him  in  the  grass,  that  they 
had  ridden  very  close  to  him,  but  he  was  "hugging 
ttie  ground."  I  asked  him  why  he  didn't  show  himself, 
and  he  said  he  thought  they  would  kill  him.  Fisher 
visits  the  same  old  squad  of  Indians  occasionally,  on 
the  Mescalero  Reservation. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  77 


Viewing  Out  A  Road 

Within  six  weeks  after  our  Staked  Plains  skirmish 
our  Adjutant  General,  Wm.  Steele,  received  a  requisi- 
tion from  Col.  Klitz,  commanding  the  post  at  Fort 
McKavett,  asking  for  a  man  to  go  with  a  detachment 
of  U.  S.  soldiers  to  view  out  a  road  from  Fort  Mc- 
Kavett to  Fort  Stockton :  Fort  McKavett  was  at  the 
head  springs  of  the  San  Saba  River,  and  Fort  Stockton 
was  26  miles  west  of  the  Pecos  River,  and  opposite  the 
old  Horsehead  crossing.  The  fact  had  become  pretty 
generally  known,  that  the  Rangers  traveled  without  a 
map.  or  compass.  Their  reckonings  were  made  by  the 
sun,  and  North  star,  taking  into  consideration  the 
main  rivers  that  run  through  the  state,  from  north  to 
south  and  the  relative  distance  between  them. 

Lieutenant  Bottsford  of  the  regular  army,  was  in 
command  of  the  detachment  to  view  out  the  road. 
General  Steele  ordered  us  to  furnish  the  guide,  and  I 
detailed  Sergeant  Ed.  Seiker  to  go  with  them.  Ser- 
geant Seiker  having  been  with  me  in  the  Plains  fight, 
when  we  were  led  to  these  big  lakes  by  the  Indians, 
and  being  as  good  as  a  Comanche  on  direction. 

He  started  out  to  lead  them  through.  Sergeant 
Seiker  had  a  keen  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  and  told 
me  of  the  great  praise  he  had  heard  of  himself  from 


78  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

the  Soldier  Boys,  when  they  were  lying  on  their  blan- 
kets at  night.  They  said  they  might  have  all  perished 
if  he  had  not  passed  them  through  the  ''Red  Sea". 
They  made  him  out  the  equal  if  not  greater  than  Kit 
Carson.  Sergeant  Seiker  was  enjoying  a  laugh  to 
himself,  mixed  with  pity,  for  men  in  their  occupation 
to  be  so  dependent. 

In  crossing  the  table  land  Seiker  rode  up  squarely 
to  our  pack  mule  that  we  had  lost  in  the  engagement 
with  the  Indians.  The  poor  mule  was  dead,  and  the 
pack  lying  with  it ;  he  thought  if  the  Rangers  had  been 
with  him,  they  would  have  buried  it  with  the  honors 
of  war. 

He  bore  northwest,  for  his  direction,  and  in  20  or 
30  miles,  they  came  to  the  head  brakes  of  some  stream, 
where  it  threaded  out  against  the  table  land.  It 
proved  to  be  Live  Oak  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Pecos 
River. 

Just  there,  Sergeant  Seiker  noticed  little  trails  of 
deer  and  antelope,  which  pointed  in  to  one  place,  and 
thinking  they  went  to  water,  he  followed  the  little 
trails  down  to  a  little  depression  and  did  find  water. 
The  water  only  showed  up  about  two  feet  in  length, 
down  in  a  crevice  of  rocks,  and  those  small  animals 
had  worn  the  rocks  slick  putting  their  heads  in  there 
to  drink.  It  was  fine,  living  water. 

Then  the  scout  was  all  right,  had  plenty  of  good 
water  and  could  get  an  antelope  or  deer  when  they 
wanted  it.  After  Lieutenant  Bottsford  rested  a  while 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  79 

he  began  to  figure  where  he  was,  and  concluded  that 
was  the  head  drainage  of  Live  Oak  Creek,  that  en- 
tered into  the  Pecos  at  old  Fort  Lancaster,  which  was 
right.  Then  he  had  easy  sailing  for  his  road.  He 
went  west  to  the  pontoon  crossing  on  the  Pecos,  then 
he  had  his  road  to  Fort  Stockton.  That  spring  was 
called  Grierson  Spring,  but  Ed.  Seiker  found  it.  Lieu- 
tenant Bottsford  was  a  good  officer,  and  Ed.  Seiker 
is  dead,  but  his  memory  still  lives. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  81 


Capt  Roberts  Married 

About  the  last  of  August,  1875,  Major  John  B. 
Jones  reached  Company  "D"  on  his  march  westward 
along  the  line  of  the  companies.  He  had  an  "inkling 
that  Lieut.  D.  W.  Eoberts  was  intending  to  tender 
his  resignation,  the  purpose  being  to  get  married. 
The  Major,  in  his  characteristic  fine  tact,  broached 
the  matter  first,  and  in  his  keen  black  eyes  was  a 
laughing  twinkle  that  told  me  that  he  had  anticipated 
me  fully.  He  told  me  that  he  was  in  perfect  accord 
with  my  idea  of  getting  married,  but,  that  my  res- 
ignation was  not  at  all  necessary.  He  told  me  I  could 
have  a  leave  of  absence,  as  long  as  I  thought  neces- 
sary, and  to  bring  my  wife  on  out  to  the  company, 
or,  I  could  leave  her  temporarily  at  a  neighboring 
village,  until  I  could  prepare  comfortable  quarters 
for  her,  in,  or  near  camp.  He  said  he  would  see  to 
it,  that  such  arrangements  were  satisfactorily  made. 
I  agreed  to  do  as  he  told  me.  But,  a  second  considera- 
tion came  to  my  mind,  that  I  had  been  too  hasty. 
My  intended  bride  had  not  been  consulted,  as  to 
whether  she  would  come  out  among  the  red-skins 
or  not.  She  had  been  reared  in  the  town  of  Columbus, 
Texas,  and  knew  comparatively  little  about  the  fron- 
tier. But,  I  went  to  Columbus,  and  told  her  the 


82  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

whole  story,  and  happily,  she  agreed  to  the  pro- 
gramme, and  appeared  to  think  it  the  climax  of  all 
the  romance  she  had  ever  indulged  in. 

My  wife  was  Miss  Luvenia  Conway,  and  we  were 
married  on  September  13th,  1875.  Mrs.  Roberts  is 
still  living,  and  keeps  my  good  old  love  letters  as 
a  menace  to  treachery.  We  took  leave  of  Columbus, 
immediately  after  our  marriage  ceremony,  the  train 
having  waited  for  the  event,  and  via  the  City  of 
Houston,  we  reached  the  City  of  Austin  on  Septem- 
ber 14th.  Stayed  in  Austin  a  few  days,  or  until  our 
ambulance  and  escort  could  meet  us  there.  "When  the 
"boys"  made  their  appearance,  it  was  Mrs.  Roberts' 
first  sight  of  Rangers.  When  we  took  up  our  march 
for  camp,  nearly  200  miles  distant,  four  men  rode 
just  ahead  of  the  ambulance,  with  all  the  parapher- 
nalia of  Rangers,  I  noticed  Mrs.  Roberts  taking  them 
in,  with  intense  scrutiny.  Their  broad  belts,  full  of 
cartridges,  and  a  leather  string,  to  which  a  hair  brush 
was  attached,  to  clean  the  rifle  barrel,  which  hung 
down  from  the  rear  of  the  belt,  was  the  one  thing  that 
appeared  to  "paralyze"  her;,  finally  she  ventured  to 
ask  me  what  that  was.  I  told  her  that  all  the  original 
stock  of  Rangers  had  "caudal  appendages".  She 
gave  me  her  first  searching,  doubtful  look.  In  after 
years,  she  found-  out,  that  I  was  a  charter  member  of 
the  Ananias  Club. 

The  second  day's  march  took  us  by  the  residence 
of  an  old  colored  woman,  that  had  belonged  to  my 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  83 

father  since  before  I  was  born.  I  could  not  pass  her 
without  stopping  to  see  her.  She  came  out  and  grab- 
bed me,  in  the  fashion  of  a  silver-tip  bear,  and  pressed 
me  to  her  good  old  warm  heart.  I  introduced  her  to 
my  wife,  and  her  first  expression  was  "Daniel,  you 
have  married  a  beautiful  woman."  Mrs.  Roberts  took 
the  compliment  gracefully,  but  after  we  had  driven 
a  little  distance  from  the  cabin,  I  told  her  that  the 
old  ' ;  darky ' '  had  been  blind  for  forty  years. 

That  evening  brought  us  to  Blanco  City  (my  old 
home  town),  where  we  were  greeted  with  open  arms 
by  some  of  the  best  men  and  women  on  earth.  That 
reassured  my  wife  that  I  might  have  been  respecta- 
ble when  I  was  young.  The  next  day  brought  us  to 
Fredericksburg.  It  was  on  Sunday  evening.  The 
custom  of  the  old  German  people  was  to  have  their 
gala  day  on  Sunday,  and  a  big  ball  was  "on  tap"  at 
Charles  Nimetz'  hotel.  Mrs.  Roberts  watched  the  gay 
dancers,  until  Terpsicore  got  the  best  of  the  Bible, 
and  she  joined  in  the  beautiful  waltz.  She  wished 
that  the  dance  might  last  until  morning,  as  she  might 
merge  the  dark  end  of  two  days  into  only  half  of  a 
crime. 

Next  day  we  reached  Fort  Mason.  Mason  was  Gen- 
eral Robert  E.  Lee's  "ante-bellum"  quarters.  We 
were  then  within  50  miles  of  my  camp.  I  could  begin 
to  hear  what  was  happening  in  that  section.  I  con- 
cluded that  I  had  better  leave  Mrs.  Roberts  in  Mason, 
and  go  myself  up  to  the  head  of  the  San  Saba  River, 


84  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

where  my  camp  was,  and  see  if  the  "sky  was  all 
clear".  I  left  my  wife  in  Mason,  with  my  friends, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  M.  Holmes.  Mr.  Holmes  was 
the  private  secretary  of  Governor  "Sul"  Ross.  I 
went  on  up  to  my  camp  and  found  matters  quiet.  I 
returned  to  Mason  within  ten  days,  and  took  Mrs. 
Roberts  up  to  Menardville,  where  we  were  to  take 
our  Ranger  quarters  for  the  winter. 

There  was  not  a  house  in  the  town  that  was  in  any 
way  related  to  a  saw  mill,  and  brick  yards  were  away 
back  in  older  civilization.  We  engaged  board  with 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Scott.  Mrs.  Scott  was  postmaster 
at  Menardville,  and  she  was  an  estimable  lady.  She 
had  plenty  of  work  to  do  besides  a  pen  full  of  cows  to 
milk.  I  volunteered  to  milk  the  cows  for  her,  but  she 
told  me  that  "they  wouldn't  let  John  come  into  the 
pen".  I  insisted  that  she  should  give  me  the  pail  and 
let  me  try  it,  which  she  did.  I  walked  into  the  pen, 
and  milked  the  cows  without  any  difficulty,  and  I 
guess  John  Scott  hates  me  for  it  yet. 

I  prepared  quarters  for  us,  about  one  and  one-half 
miles  from  the  town,  and  we  soon  went  into  camp. 
Here  we  spent  our  honey-moon,  with  sweet  old  King 
Nature,  watching  the  wild  ducks  and  geese  splash  in 
the  beautiful  water  of  the  San  Saba  River.  Our  only 
music  was  the  gobble  of  wild  turkeys  and  the  splash 
of  beavers'  tails  against  the  water,  and  our  little  string 
band  in  camp,  sent  a  wireless  message  back — to  Home 
Sweet  Home. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  85 

The  rifle  and  revolver  were  not  the  only  potent 
factors  in  advancing  the  successful  settlement  of  the 
frontier.  The  ' ;  Man  with  the  Hoe ' ',  was  our  partner, 
and  while  we  watched  his  enemies,  he,  in  turn,  sup- 
plied us  with  corn  and  oats  for  our  faithful  horses, 
and  built  himself  a  nice  home.  As  soon  as  people 
began  to  feel  secure  in  their  citizenship,  the  American 
spirit  of  enterprise  asserted  itself. 

"When  the  Republic  of  Texas  came  into  the  Union 
of  States,  she  reserved  all  her  public  domain,  and  ap- 
propriated it  to  the  upbuilding  of  the  state,  in  public 
institutions  and  school  funds.  And  "Uncle  Sam" 
was  not  more  liberal  in  giving  the  people  homes.  I 
think  it  was  the  Fourteenth  Legislature  that  offered  a 
land  subsidy,  to  encourage  irrigation,  specifying  the 
dimensions  of  a  ditch  to  carry  the  water,  say  six  feet 
wide,  at  the  bottom  of  the  ditch,  and  twelve  feet  wide, 
from  cut  to  cut  across  the  top,  and  four  feet  deep, 
on  level  ground.  For  this  class  of  ditch,  the  state 
offered  three  sections  of  land  to  the  mile  of  ditch,  not 
otherwise  appropriated,  to  the  makers  of  that  grade 
of  ditches.  The  state  not  reserving  any  rental,  or  any 
further  claim  on  the  enterprise.  Under  this  coven- 
ant, between  the  state  and  the  citizen  we  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  the  first  ditch  made,  and  stood 
guard  for  the  workers  in  their  happy  vocation. 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  87 


The  Mason  County  War 

When  we  were  encamped  in  Mason  County,  a  feud 
between  cattlemen  arose  to  proportions  that  gave  it 
the  name  of  the  "Mason  County  War".  Major  Jones 
had  to  take  the  '  *  bull  by  the  horns ' '  and  help  to  quell 
it.  The  civil  authorities  also  did  their  best  to  stop  it, 
but  it  hinged  in  the  midst  of  what  was  probably  the 
largest  of  cattle  operations  in  the  state  at  that  time. 

The  largest  per  cent,  of  citizens  in  Mason  County 
were  Germans  who  .had  accumulated  fine  stocks  of 
cattle  by  their  usual  frugality.  Mr.  Lemberg  was 
engaged  in  shipping  and  driving  cattle  to  the  Kansas 
markets.  He  had  in  his  employ  Mr.  "Tim"  William- 
son, who  handled  his  herds.  Complaint  was  rife  that 
cattle  belonging  to  ranchmen  were  taken  by  whole- 
sale, by  the  men  moving  herds,  and  not  accounted  for 
to  the  owners. 

Mr.  Williamson  was  on  his  road  to  the  town  of 
Mason,  being  15  or  20  miles  from  Lemberg 's  store, 
when  a  mob  seized  him  and  killed  him.  This  act  was 
laid  to  the  Germans.  Other  cattlemen,  who  were 
thought  to  be  "shady"  in  their  dealings,  took  advan- 
tage of  this  to  excite  the  Americans  against  the  Ger- 
mans. This  started  the  "Mason  County  War". 

I  was  in  the  town  of  Mason,  having  come  in  alone 


88  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

to  buy  grain  for  my  camp,  and  was  sleeping  at  Major 
Hunter's  hotel.  Had  not  more  than  embraced  the 
sweet  charms  of  Morpheus  when  Sheriff  John  Clark 
ran  into  my  room  and  yelled  at  me  to  get  up,  that  a 
big  lot  of  men  were  mobbing  the  jail.  The  cause  of 
this  mob  was  that  a  lot  of  men  had  been  apprehended 
with  a  whole  herd  of  cattle  that  did  not  belong  to 
them,  and  were  put  in  jail.  To  resume:  James 
Trainer  and  myself  went  with  Sheriff  Clark  to  the 
jail  and  when  we  got  within  twenty  steps  of  the  mob, 
who  were  assembled  at  the  jail  door,  we  were  ordered 
to  halt,  and  that  in  tones  that  meant  business.  They 
told  the  Sheriff  that  they  would  not  hurt  us,  pro- 
vided we  kept  our  distance.  We  backed  off  to  the 
court  house,  say  thirty  steps  from  the  jail  and  the 
Sheriff  ran  up  stairs  to  a  south  room,  put  his  rifle 
through  the  window  and  told  the  mob  that  the  first 
d — d  man  that  touched  that  jail  door,  he  would  kill 
him.  Seeing  that  they  might  have  to  kill  all  three 
of  us,  about  ten  men  came  right  in  by  Trainer  and 
myself,  didn't  even  say  "good  evening"  and  went 
upstairs  to  talk  to  Clark.  They  told  the  Sheriff  that 
they  meant  no  harm  to  him  or  the  county,  but  they 
were  going  to  have  those  men,  even  if  they  had  to 
hurt  him  in  doing  so.  There  were  about  forty  men 
of  the  mob,  Clark  saw  he  was  "up  against  it".  The 
Sheriff  came  down  and  told  Trainer  and  myself  to  get 
off  a  little  distance  and  watch  them  until  he  could 
go  for  help.  While  he  was  gone,  the  mob  secured 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  89 

battering  rams,  broke  the  jail  door,  took  five  cattle 
rustlers  out  of  the  jail  and  started  south  with 
them. 

When  the  Sheriff  returned  with  five  or  six  men, 
we  started  after  them,  all  on  foot  except  the  Sheriff; 
we  took  a  turkey  trot  down  the  Fredericksburg  road 
about  half  a  mile,  when  the  mob  began  to  shoot,  we 
thinking  they  were  shooting  at  us,  we  returned  the 
fire,  at  the  blaze  of  their  guns,  but  got  no  answer. 
They  had  heard  us  coming,  and  were  not  through  with 
their  work,  and  commenced  to  shoot  the  men  they  had 
not  hanged.  The  Sheriff  being  horseback,  ran  down 
to  where  the  shooting  was,  found  the  two  Baccus 
brothers  and  a  man  named  Turley,  hanging  to  the 
limb  of  a  tree,  Wiggins  with  his  brains  shot  out,  and 
the  fifth  man  gone.  Sheriff  Clark  quickly  cut  the 
men  down  from  the  tree,  and  when  I  got  there,  I 
examined  Turley,  found  his  neck  was  not  broken,  and 
was  warm.  I  ran  to  a  branch  nearby,  dipped  water 
in  my  hat,  ran  back  to  Turley,  poured  it  on  him,  rub- 
bed him,  and  he  soon  showed  signs  of  returning  to 
life.  He  gradually  came  to  life,  with  a  glassy  stare 
in  his  eyes.  He  could  not  talk  until  next  morning. 
The  Baccus  brothers  were  both  dead.  The  fifth  man, 
Johnson,  when  we  began  to  fire  on  them,  jerked  the 
rope  over  his  head,  jumped  over  the  fence  and  went  on 
1 1 21 ",  across  the  plowed  ground.  Johnson  was  a  '  *  ten- 
derfoot" and  was  only  hired  to  drive  the  wagon  and 
cook  for  the  Baccus  outfit.  I  think  it  was  the  third 


90  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

day  after  that,  Johnson  came  to  my  camp,  foot-sore 
and  wild. 

District  court  opened  in  Mason,  and  Judge  Everett 
sent  a  messenger  to  me  with  a  note  saying  "Don't 
turn  Johnson  over  to  any  Sheriff  or  any  one.  I  will 
notify  you  when  to  have  him  here."  The  Judge  sent 
out  for  Johnson,  and  we  took  him  to  Mason,  under 
a  safe  guard.  The  Judge  sent  him  before  the  grand 
jury,  to  see  if  he  would  identify  any  of  the  mob. 
Johnson  could  tell  nothing,  of  a  positive  nature,  and 
feigned  to  not  know  them.  He  was  not  prompted  by 
any  one  to  tell,  or  not  tell  anything.  But  we  were 
glad  he  did  not  tell  any  more  than  he  did,  as  it  might 
frustrate  our  plans  of  catching  them.  Also,  we  didn't 
know  but  what  some  members  of  that  grand  jury 
belonged  to  the  mob.  I  was  summoned  before  the 
grand  jury,  and  they  "fired  into  me",  and  cross- 
fired,  until  I  began  to  think  they  were  prying  into 
"state  secrets".  I  knew  nothing,  at  the  time,  that  I 
thought  the  grand  jury  ought  to  have,  and  I  parried 
them  with  the  "semi-truth,"  and  we  made  a  drawn 
battle. 

In  quick  sequence,  a  man  named  William  Coke  was 
missing.  Mr.  Coke  was  foreman  of  a  cattle  ranch  near 
Mason.  The  last  heard  of  him,  a  man  named  Miller, 
who  lived  in  Mason,  had  seen  him  on  the  range,  and 
talked  with  him.  The  Major  ordered  me  to  take  a 
scout  in  search  of  Coke,  and  take  Miller  with  me.  Mr. 
Miller  showed  where  he  had  seen  Coke  and  talked 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  91 

with  him,  but  no  tracks  could  be  found.  A  little  later, 
one  evening  when  old  Sol  had  bade  us  all  adieu,  in 
the  west,  Johnson  went  to  Mr.  Miller's  residence,  in 
Mason  and  shot  him.  Johnson  thinking  he  had  ' i  done 
for  him",  was  never  seen  in  that  section  again.  Miller 
recovered.  William  Coke  was  never  heard  of,  and  we 
think  his  bones  were  bleaching  in  some  cavern,  so 
often  the  receptacle  of  crime. 

Following  in  succession,  when  Daniel  Hoerster,  a 
prominent  man;  was  riding  down  the  street  in  Mason, 
he  was  shot  off  his  horse  and  killed.  The  killing  party 
started  out  of  town,  in  a  pretty  lively  gait,  and  Peter 
Jordan  leveled  down  on  them  with  a  rifle,  at  long 
range,  and  his  bullet  struck  George  Gladden 's  gun, 
just  where  his  hand  was  grasping  it,  and  tore  Glad- 
den's  hand  up  badly,  and  almost  demolished  the  breech 
of  his  gun.  They  escaped  without  further  casualties. 
By  this  time  the  feud  was  denominated  "Germans 
against  Americans".  This  was  not  true.  A  short 
time  after  the  killing  at  Mason,  Sheriff  Clark  got  into 
his  buggy  and  drove  down  to  Kellar's  store,  about 
12  miles  south  of  Mason,  on  the  Llano  River.  Every- 
body there  was  on  the  watch.  They  saw  two  men 
coming  up  to  the  store,  and  when  they  got  pretty  close 
to  the  store,  Sheriff  Clark  saw  that  they  were  Mose 
Beard  and  George  Gladden.  Those  two  men  were  con- 
sidered among  the  fighting  men  opposing  the  Sheriff. 
They  rode  up  and  dismounted,  and  the  Sheriff  stepped 
out  on  the  porch,  with  his  rifle  in  hand,  and  the  firing 


92  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

commenced  at  about  30  paces.  Young  Kellar  was  sup- 
porting Clark.  John  Clark  was  one  of  the  ''blue  hen's 
chickens".  Within  perhaps  two  minutes  the  firing 
ceased  on  Beard  and  Gladden 's  side.  Clark  saw  what 
was  the  matter.  They  were  both  mortally  wounded. 
They  could,  however,  get  on  a  horse,  and  both  mounted 
one  horse,  Gladden  holding  Beard  on  the  horse,  they 
rode  back  the  way  they  came.  The  Sheriff  got  into  his 
buggy  and  drove  after  them,  taking  Kellar  and  an- 
other man  with  him.  Within  a  mile  and  a  half,  they 
came  upon  them,  on  the  bank  of  Beaver  Creek.  Beard 
was  dying,  and  Gladden  could  go  no  further.  Beard 
died  within  a  short  time  after  the  officers  got  to  him. 
Gladden  was  shot  nine  times.  The  Sheriff  returned 
and  sent  his  Deputy,  James  A.  Baird,  to  take  care  of 
them.  Mr.  Baird  found  them,  late  in  the  night.  He 
built  up  a  big  fire  near  the  lifeless  body  of  Mose  Beard 
and  was  just  starting  for  the  nearest  ranch,  to  get  a 
wagon  to  move  Gladden,  when  he  heard  the  mail  hack 
coming.  He  waited  for  the  hack  and  sent  Gladden  to 
his  home  in  Loyal  Valley,  on  board  the  hack.  Gladden 
got  well.  Kellar 's  store  was  their  "Waterloo'  on  a 
fighting  basis.  The  killing  that  followed  was  sneaking 
murder. 

Some  time  afterward,  Gladden  killed  Peter  Barder, 
in  Llano  County,  and  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary 
for  99  years.  Mr.  Barder  was  considered  a  "killer" 
on  the  other  side  of  the  feud.  Gladden  was  pardoned, 
after  serving  some  time  in  the  penitentiary.  About 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  93 

the  first  of  all  this  killing,  John  Worley  was  brutally 
murdered  by  Scott  Cooley,  on  suspicion  that  he  had 
helped  to  kill  Williamson. 

The  above  constitutes  the  principal  killing,  in  that 
horrible  affair. 

A  casual  observer  may  notice  that  no  arrests  were 
made  on  either  side.  However,  we  recall,  that  John 
Ringo,  and  a  few  others  on  the  side  opposing  the  civil 
authority  were  arrested  and  put  in  the  Burnet  County 
jail,  but  they  made  their  escape  without  trial.  The 
reason  that  no  arrests  were  made  can  only  rest  upon 
hypothesis,  and  that  is:  the  men  supporting  civil 
authority,  needed  no  arrest,  and  those  opposing  it, 
urged  equal  claims,  of  being  right,  but  would  not  sub- 
mit their  grievances  to  law. 

The  Rangers  could  only  support  the  civil  authority 
in  cases  of  actual  bloodshed,  as  Mason  County  was  not 
under  martial  law.  The  Rangers  could  arrest  crimi- 
nals, indicted  by  the  courts,  and  even  more,  they 
could  arrest  on  information,  or  actual  observance  of 
crime,  but  Mason  County  had  never  brought  a  man 
to  trial,  during  this  feud.  Sheriff  Clark,  seeing  that 
it  would  take  "eternal  vigilance"  for  him  to  live  in 
Mason  County,  resigned  the  office  of  sheriff,  and  left 
for  parts  best  known  to  himself.  Other  principal 
actors,  against  him,  went  to  Arizona,  then  considered 
a  far  off  land  from  Texas.  The  war  died  out  and 
Mason  County  is  now  prosperous  and  happy. 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  95 


Rio  Grande  Campaign 

In  1878,  Lieutenant  D.  W.  Roberts  resigned  the 
command  of  Company  "D"  and  went  to  Houston, 
Texas.  Lieutenant  Frank  Moore  was  put  in  command 
of  the  Company,  and  the  Company  was  stationed  on 
the  headwaters  of  the  Llano  River,  until  a  little  un- 
pleasantness came  up  on  the  Mexican  border.  The 
nature  of  that  trouble  was  that  some  Mexicans,  from 
the  Mexican  side,  came  over  to  the  Texas  side,  and 
committed  some  offenses  that  caused  their  arrest  and 
they  were  tried  by  the  County  Judge  at  Rio  Grande 
City  and  penalties  assessed  against  them,  to  cause  their 
imprisonment.  This  incensed  the  Mexicans  to  a  high 
pitch,  and  they  came  over,  from  the  Mexican  side  and 
liberated  the  Mexican  prisoners,  and  in  the  row  shot 
the  County  Judge.  But  the  wound  was  not  serious. 
This  raised  "Cain"  on  the  border  and  Companies 
"A"  and  "D"  of  the  Rangers  were  ordered  there 
immediately. 

Major  Jones  wrote  D.  W.  Roberts,  who  was  then  in 
Houston,  that  if  he  would  come  back  and  take  com- 
mand of  his  old  company,  that  he  would  insure  him  a 
captaincy,  and  that  his  pay  would  be  better,  etc.  I 
concluded  to  do  it,  came  to  Austin,  received  a  captain 's 
commission  signed  by  Governor  0.  M.  Roberts,  pro- 


96  BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

ceeded  to  Laredo,  where  my  old  company  was  stationed, 
and  took  command  of  the  Company. 

Captain  Neal  Coldwell,  who  was  Captain  of  Com- 
pany "A"  had  the  command  of  Company  "D"  until 
I  arrived.  He  had  camped  both  companies  near  old 
Fort  Mclntosh,  which  was  garrisoned  by  the  United 
States  soldiers.  We  talked  to  Captain  Coldwell  as 
to  what  his  opinion  was  regarding  the  situation ;  and 
his  keen  observance  led  me  to  believe  that  there  would 
be  no  fight  with  Mexico. 

Pardon  a  little  "yarn;"  two  negro  boys  were  discus- 
sing the  rank  of  army  officers,  as  they  walked  down 
the  street,  according  to  their  shoulder  straps  and  epaul- 
etts,  and  noticing  an  orderly  sergeant,  as  file  closer, 
who  had  more  stripes  than  any  of  them,  one  boy  said 
to  the  other  "Dat's  mor'n  any  Cap'n."  So  it  was  with 
Captain  Coldwell,  he  was  more  than  any  captain  in 
ability,  and  one  of  the  best  officers  in  the  service.  We 
worked  with  him  or  rather  under  his  orders,  until 
we  could  learn  what  he  knew  regarding  the  situation 
on  the  Rio  Grande.  By  his  suggestion,  we  moved  both 
companies  down  the  Rio  Grande.  I  stopped  my  com- 
pany at  Carrizo,  just  opposite  the  town  of  Guerrero, 
in  Mexico.  Captain  Coldwell  took  station  at  Ringgold 
barracks,  some  sixty  miles  below  me.  We  had  sort  of 
a  "grape  vine"  line  to  headquarters  at  Austin,  by 
courier  from  his  camp  to  mine,  thence  to  Laredo,  where 
we  could  reach  the  wires.  After  I  had  been  at  Carrizo 
a  short  time  I  ventured  to  go  over  to  the  town  of 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  97 

Guerrero,  in  Mexico.  Guerrero  was  twelve  miles  from 
the  river  where  I  crossed  at  Carrizo.  I  went  alone 
and  the  public  road  had  no  charms  for  me,  and  I  took 
to  the  chaparral,  (brush)  and  rode  into  Guerrero. 
Just  as  I  entered  the  town,  I  rode  .into  a  nest  of  loafers 
and  a  few  soldiers  with  them,  and  the  scoundrels  knew 
me.  They  cursed  me  for  everything  vile,  and  I  pre- 
tended not  to  understand  them,  but  I  understood  every 
word  they  said.  I  played  the  "baby  act"  successfully 
and  rode  on  into  the  town.  I  strolled  around  like  an 
innocent  spectator  and  finally  I  came  upon  a  Mexican 
merchant,  who  was  a  nice  and  intelligent  man.  Then 
I  had  found  a  man  that  I  wanted  to  talk  to.  He 
thought  that  there  would  be  no  immediate  danger  of 
any  immediate  trouble  between  the  two  countries  and 
assured  me  that  the  more  intelligent  class  of  Mexican 
citizens  were  decidedly  friendly  to  us.  I  could  see  no 
heavy  war  clouds  around  Guerrero,  and  took  to  the 
brush  like  a  wild  turkey,  back  to  the  ferry  at  Carrizo. 
Then  I  was  under  cover  of  my  own  guns  and  the 
1 '  boys ' '  were  watching  for  me  at  the  bank  of  the  river. 
In  a  day  or  two  later,  I  thought  I  would  move  camp 
down  to  Roma,  about  forty  miles  below  Carrizo,  and 
on  the  morning  that  I  took  up  march  for  Roma  the 
Mexican  soldiers  from  Guerrero  started  for  Mier, 
opposite  Roma,  and  made  the  distance  in  one  day  on 
foot.  They  were  on  the  "Quidad"  as  well  as  I  was. 
When  I  had  been  at  Roma  a  few  days  and  learned  the 
cow  trails  and  crossings  of  the  river,  I  went  over  to 


98  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

Mier.  It  was  an  opportune  time,  as  a  big  fiesta  (a 
fair  or  feast)  was  going  on  there  and  the  presence  of 
strangers  was  expected.  Mier  was  15  miles  from 
Roma.  The  features  of  the  fair  were  bull  fighting 
and  gambling.  The  Mexican  women  would  walk  up 
to  a  gambling  table,  place  large  sums  of  money  on  a 
card,  and  win  or  lose,  and  you  would  not  hear  a  word 
from  them.  Everything  was  perfect  order  in  the 
gambling  place.  The  women  smoked  cigarettes  and 
yet  they  appeared  to  be  perfect  ladies.  I  though  it 
was  the  most  wonderful  thing  that  I  had  ever  seen, 
that  gambling  could  be  tolerated  to  an  apparent 
point  of  decency.  We  learned  another  feature  in 
their  realm  of  society ;  when  a  girl  or  woman,  nurses 
a  child  of  doubtful  parentage,  it  is  not  considered  a 
disgrace,  but  a  misfortune.  I  have  often  thought  of 
that,  that  they  could  wear  the  mantle  of  charity  with 
more  comfort  than  our  own  people.  Their  ideals  are 
as  widely  apart  from  ours  as  the  poles,  consequently 
I  don't  think  we  can  ever  assimilate  in  one  idea  of 
government.  Altogether,  the  fair  was  unique  and 
interesting.  Ostensibly,  we  were  there  attending  the 
feast,  but  our  wicked  eyes  were  on  other  matters  as 
well.  We  surveyed  the  soldiery,  and  their  equipments. 
Also  we  were  watching  for  criminals,  whose  descrip- 
tion we  had.  We  took  time  to  view  the  historic  old 
spot  of  Mier,  where  the  Santa  Fe  prisoners  drew  white 
and  black  beans,  in  their  lottery  for  life.  There  stands 
out,  the  most  noble  thing  in  American  history,  where 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  99 

one  man  who  had  drawn  a  white  bean,  giving  him  his 
liberty  offered  to  swap  it  to  his  comrade  for  a  black 
one,  that  he  had  drawn,  which  condemned  him  to  death. 
The  man  with  the  black  bean  was  just  as  brave  and 
noble  and  refused  to  take  the  white  bean. 

We  returned  to  Roma,  looked  after  some  little  mat- 
ters in  helping  the  customs  guards,  or  river  guards, 
as  they  were  called,  and  considered  the  outlook  in  gen- 
eral. After  having  been  at  Roma  about  two  months 
we  concluded  that  the  war  scare  was  a  chinook  wind, 
and  had  gotten  back  to  normal  temperature.  Being 
under  a  sort  of  ' '  carte  blanche ' '  orders,  we  moved  the 
Company  back  to  Laredo.  At  Laredo,  we  found  the 
old  conditions  of  bandit  trouble  still  rampant,  and 
white  men  and  Mexicans  plying  their  trade,  on  both 
sides  of  the  river.  We  were  not  diplomats,  and  were 
not  sent  there  for  that  purpose,  but  we  formed  a  sort 
of  a  "  Junta "  with  the  Mexican  Major,  who  was  com- 
manding the  Mexican  soldiers  at  New  Laredo.  We 
interpreted  our  junta  into  international  law,  but  we 
fear  it  would  not  have  looked  much  like  it  at  Wash- 
ington City.  I  was  afraid  of  our  good  old  Governor 
Roberts,  for  he  was  certainly  a  ''straight  edge"  but, 
if  our  doings  had  been  reported  to  Major  Jones,  we 
think  he  would  have  turned  his  head  in  a  different 
direction.  I  think  I  had  some  the  best  of  the  Mexican 
Major  in  our  treaty. 

The  Mexican  government  had  what  they  called  a 
Zona  Libre  (free  belt)  extending  back  one  mile  into 


100  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

Mexico,  from  the  Rio  Grande  River.  This  may  have 
been  regarding  customs  duties,  but  we  interpreted  it 
to  mean  ''catch  them  if  you  can,  in  one  mile  of  the 
river."  The  Mexican  Major  was  a  shrewd  man,  and  a 
gentleman,  and  although  we  had  not  met  each  other 
many  times,  our  work  was  done  through  agencies.  We 
may  be  telling  too  much,  but,  if  Uncle  Sam  wants  to 
try  us,  at  this  late  date,  prison  life  would  not  cheat 
us  out  of  many  years.  He  would  find  no  documentary 
evidence,  and  not  many  witnesses  living.  If  the  Mex- 
ican Major  is  living,  we  think  his  government  should 
give  him  a  pension. 

Now,  we  will  tell  you  of  some  of  our  crimes.  The 
Mexican  Major  made  a  scout  down  the  river,  on  his 
side  and  found  one  of  the  most  noted  bandits  that 
infested  that  country,  and  in  a  running  fight  with  him, 
several  miles  before  he  reached  the  river,  failed  to  get 
him,  but  as  he  was  swimming  the  river  he  shot  him, 
wounding  him  badly,  but  he  reached  the  Texas  side,  in 
close  proximity  to  his  bandit  quarters.  The  Major  sent 
a  messenger  to  me  immediately,  telling  me  where  he 
had  crossed  the  river  and  that  he  had  probably  reached 
the  den  of  bandits  on  our  side.  We  sent  a  scout  imme- 
diately down  the  river,  and  in  the  settlement,  or  ranch, 
where  the  Major  said  he  crossed,  my  men  found  him, 
badly  wounded,  but  brought  him  up  to  Laredo,  and 
put  him  in  jail.  There  was  an  arrest  made  by  the 
Rangers,  without  a  warrant  for  arrest  and  on  infor- 
mation from  the  Republic  of  Mexico.  But,  we  knew 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  101 

the  evidence  could  and  would  be  brought  against  him, 
to  convict  him  on  our  side,  and  if  he  was  not  extra- 
dited we  would  fix  him  in  Texas. 

Shortly  after  that,  a  Mexican  was  coming  into  New 
Laredo,  from  the  interior  of  Mexico,  with  some  fancy 
goods  to  sell  at  New  Laredo,  including  some  very  fine 
Mexican  hats.  He  was  held  up  about  twenty  miles 
from  Laredo,  and  robbed  of  everything  he  had  by 
Mexicans.  He  came  into  Laredo  and  reported  it  to 
the  Major  in  command,  and  he  sent  him  right  over 
to  me.  The  Major  advised  me  to  send  a  scout  up  the 
river,  and  he  would  send  a  scout  up  the  river  on  his 
side.  I  sent  a  scout  up  the  river,  and  about  25  miles 
above  Laredo  they  came  in  sight  of  an  old  ranch  locat- 
ed on  the  river.  When  they  got  near  the  ranch  they 
saw  some  men  running  away  from  the  ranch,  and 
making  for  the  river.  The  Rangers  ran  up  to  the 
ranch,  looked  in  the  old  building,  and  saw  some  fine 
Mexican  hats  and  other  goods  in  there,  which  told 
them  that  those  men  were  the  robbers.  The  Rangers 
put  spurs  to  their  horses  and  made  the  gravel  fly  in 
pursuit.  They  got  to  the  river  just  as  the  robbers 
were  getting  out  of  the  water  on  Mexican  soil.  That 
water  didn  't  stop  the  Rangers  much.  They  were  ' '  onto 
their  job".  Very  soon  the  bullets  began  to  fly  at 
the  robbers,  and  they  ran  into  a  chaparral  thicket  and 
the  Rangers  kept  "fogging"  them,  until  they  all  quit 
their  horses,  and  took  cover  through  the  thick  brush. 
Just  then  the  Mexican  scout  came  up  from  the  Mex- 


102  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

lean  side.  They  had  heard  the  firing  of  the  Rangers' 
guns,  but  were  not  alarmed  about  any  war  in  Mexico, 
as  they  knew  what  it  meant.  The  Rangers  and  Mex- 
ican soldiers  all  came  back  across  to  the  old  ranch, 
and  the  Rangers  were  armed  of  course.  They  rested 
there  together  and  had  a  jolly  time.  The  Rangers 
turned  over  the  horses  to  the  Mexican  soldiers,  that 
they  had  captured  in  Mexico,  and  brought  the  old  Mex- 
ican peddler's  goods  back  to  Laredo.  He  was  notified 
that  we  had  his  goods,  and  came  over  and  got  them.  I 
don't  know  whether  he  paid- any  duty  on  them  or 
not.  There  stood  Fort  Mclntosh  bristling  with  dress 
parade,  bowed  up  like  a  mad  bull,  waiting  for  the 
enemy  to  make  a  lunge  at  her.  But,  the  officers  of 
the  garrison  were  not  to  be  blamed,  as  they  were  only 
machine  guns.  A  few  other  like  incidents  made  the 
bandits  ' t  hard  to  catch ' '  up  and  down  that  river,  many 
miles  from  Laredo.  The  business  men  and  citizens 
threw  their  hats  in  the  air  over  our  success.  We  were 
willing  to  give  the  Mexican  Major  more  than  half  the 
credit,  as  we  could  have  done  but  little  without  his 
help.  Thinking  our  treaty  with  Mexico  will  only  be 
taken  as  a  joke,  we  give  the  people  of  that  border  the 
benefit  of  the  joke.  The  merchants  and  business  men, 
together  with  a  large  majority  of  the  citizens  wrote  and 
signed  a  petition  to  Governor  Roberts  to  keep  us  at 
Laredo.  Also,  gave  me  a  copy  of  the  petition  which  I 
have  yet.  But,  there  was  an  intervening  order,  which 
none  of  us  knew  of,  which  reached  us  at  Laredo,  order- 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  103 

ing  us  back  to  the  northern  frontier  of  Texas.  So 
their  petition  was  not  acted  upon  by  the  Governor. 
Captain  Coldwell,  who  was  stationed  at  Rio  Grande 
City,  about  100  miles  below  Laredo,  also  received 
marching  orders,  and  brought  his  company  up  to 
Laredo,  and  we  took  up  march  together  back  to  our 
old  stamping  ground  on  the  northern  border. 

We  will  not  get  out  of  sight  of  Laredo  without  tell- 
ing you  something  of  banking  there.  Mr.  E.  J.  Hall 
did  the  principal  banking  at  Laredo.  Mr.  Hall  invited 
us  to  inspect  his  bank  and  pass  on  its  unique  features. 
We  were  not  a  committee,  or  any  part  of  one,  to  look 
after  state  or  national  banks,  but  Hall  wanted  us  to 
enjoy  the  funny  part  of  it.  Mr.  Hall  had  stacks  of 
silver,  that  looked  like  cord  wood,  in  his  counting  room, 
and  at  his  pay  desk.  This  was  mostly  Mexican  dollars 
and  was  hauled  there  by  mule  teams.  When  Texas  live 
stock  buyers  visited  the  neighborhood  of  Laredo  to 
purchase  Mexican  stock,  they  had  only  to  go  to  Ed. 
Hall's  bank,  and  see  how  his  stock  of  money  was 
holding  out.  They  didn't  have  to  inquire  about  se- 
curities and  the  men  selling  live  stock  did  their  own 
inspecting.  It  was  all  in  sight,  and  no  watered  collat- 
erals behind  it.  The  dark  and  gruesome  spectre  of 
panics  did  not  bother  Mr.  Hall.  He  knew  Wall  Street, 
and  few  men  knew  it  better.  We  took  a  toddy  with 
Mr.  Hall,  and  wished  him  a  long  and  prosperous  ca- 
reer in  Rio  Grande  banking.  If  there  is  any  moral 
in  this,  it  points  to  a  sound  money  basis.  He  had  a 


104  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

gold  reserve  to  meet  any  requirement  of  gold  legis- 
lation, but  the  "endless  chain"  that  Grover  Cleve- 
land had  to  contend  with,  was  left  to  the  stalwarts  of 
financial  juggling. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  105 


On  the  March 

We  left  Laredo  under  secret  orders  to  move  Com- 
pany "D"  to  Uvalde  County,  and  to  await  further 
orders.  Guessing  was  in  order,  and  my  men  discussed 
the  matter  around  the  camp  fire,  and  the  topic  lasted 
for  months.  They  knew  nearly  as  much  about  it  as 
I  did,  and  developments  were  slow.  I  kept  my  guess 
to  myself,  which  was,  that  we  would  not  be  moved 
too  far  from  the  Rio  Grande  until  the  low  rumblings 
of  discontent  died  out  with  Mexico.  Captain  "Pat" 
Dolan  had  worked  Uvalde  County  pretty  well  along 
the  line  of  local  disorders,  and  we  could  afford  to  go 
fishing. 

We  camped  Company  "D"  twelve  miles  east  of 
Uvalde,  on  the  Sabinal  River,  and  on  the  mail  line 
from  San  Antonio  to  Uvalde.  Captain  Coldwell's  Com- 
pany "A"  moved  on  up  to  the  headwaters  of  Guada- 
lupe  River,  under  command  of  First  Sergeant  George 
Arrington.  (Mr.  Arrington  was  subsequently  commis- 
sioned a  captain  in  the  Frontier  Battalion.)  We  were 
somewhat  restless  in  our  Sabinal  camp.  Our  training 
had  been,  under  quick  orders,  and  fight  for  results. 
There  were  only  a  few  petty  artists  in  that  neigh" 
borhood,  whose  occupation  ran  down  as  low  as  steal- 
ing a  pair  of  hobbles,  and  we  waited  on  them  just  to 


106  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

''keep  our  hands  in".  "We  went  "sure  enough"  fish- 
ing, to  the  Frio  River,  eight  miles  from  camp.  Mrs. 
Roberts  went  with  us,  in  the  ambulance,  together  with 
three  Rangers.  In  breaking  through  thick  brush  to 
get  to  a  large  water  hole  we  knew  of  we  spied  a  real 
leopard,  which  seemed  to  be  surveying  us  as  "unde- 
sirable citizens".  He  appeared  to  be  tame,  but  we 
didn  't  try  to  pet  him.  We  let  him  go  ' '  Scott  free ' '. 

When  we  reached  the  water,  and  cast  our  lines,  we 
looked  down  the  river  to  a  shoal  and  could  see  an 
object  that  looked  unusual,  as  we  knew  that  spot  quite 
well,  from  frequent  visits  there,  to  a  wild  turkey  roost. 
We  laid  aside  our  fish  poles,  and  went  to  investigate. 
When  we  got  to  the  object  we  saw  that  it  was  a  dead 
man  floating  on  top  of  the  water.  We  sent  Mrs. 
Roberts  back  to  camp,  and  to  get  help  to  take  care  of 
him.  Sergeant  L.  P.  Seiker  returned  with  three  or 
four  men,  and  took  him  out  of  the  water,  when  he 
found  a  very  large  rock  tied  to  his  middle,  which  we 
weighed  subsequently,  thinking  we  might  need  it  in 
the  possibility  of  future  evidence.  The  rock  weighed 
52  pounds.  We  had  stayed  there  to  try  our  hand  as 
detectives.  We  surveyed  the  appearance  of  things 
in  sight,  and  concluded  that  the  man  had  been  thrown 
off  of  a  big  bluff,  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  and 
that  the  rock  held  him  at,  or  near  the  bottom,  until  he 
floated  to  shallow  water  and  came  to  the  surface.  He 
was  so  bleached  by  the  water  that  we  couldn't  tell 
whether  he  was  a  white  man  or  a  Mexican.  We  climb- 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  107 

ed  up  the  bluff,  on  the  west  side,  and  were  working 
through  the  thick  chaparral  brush,  when  we  came 
upon  a  horse  track,  leading  towards  the  bluff.  There 
we  could  plainly  see  where  the  man  was  thrown  off 
the  bluff.  We  examined  closely,  and  could  see  where 
the  man  had  brushed  the  dirt  bank,  in  falling  some 
twelve  feet  to  the  water.  In  looking  closely  we  saw  a 
large  butcher  knife  lodged  in  some  little  roots  near  the 
water.  How  I  should  get  that  knife  without  swim- 
ming confronted  me  with  doubt.  I  could  see  some 
little  twigs,  growing  in  the  dirt  bank  and  I  thought 
I  would  risk  holding  to  those,  and  if  I  went  in,  it  would 
be  the  " whole  hog"  with  my  clothes  on.  I  held  on  to 
those  twigs,  "with  fear  and  trembling",  until  I  reach- 
ed the  knife,  and  threw  it  on  top  of  the  bank.  I 
crawled  up  again  to  footing  and  examined  the  knife. 
It  had  a  wooden  handle,  and  on  the  handle  some  cat- 
tle brands  were  cut,  the  insignia  of  where  the  knife 
belonged.  I  back-tracked  the  horse  to  a  big  road 
that  led  up  to  Dillard's  ranch,  about  two  and  a  half 
miles  from  the  river;  then  I  had  brought  mystery  to 
a  more  reasonable  conclusion,  that  that  ranch  could 
tell  something  about  it.  I  sent  Sergeant  L.  P.  Seiker 
to  the  ranch  with  three  men,  and  told  him  to  arrest 
every  man  on  that  ranch,  and  we  would  see  if  the 
old  maxim  would  work,  that  "murder  will  out".  I 
knew  that  Sergeant  Seiker  could  "pull  them"  if  any 
other  man  could.  He  arrested  every  man  that  he 
could  find  on  the  ranch,  and  they  looked  phenomenally 


108  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

wild.  Seiker  told  them  what  he  had  found,  and 
tracked  it  to  their  door  and  told  them  that  they  better 
"fessup".  He  was  using  a  "writ  of  rouster",  but 
it  worked  all  right.  Finally  a  Mexican  stepped  up, 
and  said  "I  am  the  man  that  killed  him".  Then  his 
explanation  followed.  The  man  that  was  killed  was 
a  Mexican.  The  man  that  had  killed  him  had  bought 
some  horses  from  him,  which  all  proved  to  be  stolen 
horses,  and  were  taken  from  him.  The  Mexican  that 
was  killed  had  brought  another  bunch  of  horses  to  sell 
him,  but,  he  was  so  mad  over  the  first  transaction 
that  he  took  his  gun  and  shot  him.  The  horses  he 
brought  the  last  time  were  there  for  inspection.  We 
looked  them  over  and  found  a  fine  buggy  horse  that 
belonged  to  Joe  Rogers  who  was  a  friend  of  mine, 
and  lived  near  Austin.  We  knew  the  horse,  as  well 
as  our  own  saddle  horses,  and  when  we  saw  him  we 
said  ' '  good  shot ' '.  But,  Sergeant  Seiker  took  the  Mex- 
ican, and  the  Dillard  boys  up  to  Uvalde,  put  the  Mex- 
ican under  bond  to  await  the  action  of  the  grand  jury. 
We  whispered  to  the  boys,  "Don't  appear  against 
them, ' '  and?  that  ended  it.  . 

We  "wintered"  in  1878,  on  Sabinal  River,  and 
when  spring  came  we  began  to  feel  like  loafers.  But, 
we  were  soon  relieved  of  monotony.  Matters  on  the 
northern  border,  and  in  our  old  district,  were  coming 
to  life,  on  a  basis  of  murder  and  pillage.  So  we  got 
"double  quick"  orders  to  go  back  there.  My  boys  felt 
like  lazy  school  boys  that  enjoy  a  good  recess.  They 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  109 

whooped  and  yelled,  and  flew  at  the  wagons  and  pack 
mules  and  we  were  soon  on  the  march  for  the  head  of 
the  San  Saba  River,  some  250  miles  from  Sabinal. 
Within  a  few  days'  march,  we  began  to  reach  our 
" volunteer  reserve".  My  men  could  borrow  a  suit 
of  clothes,  a  horse  and  saddle,  or  anything  a  ranch 
had.  And  in  some  tough  little  fights,  you  could 
hardly  tell  who  were  Rangers  and  who  were  not.  But, 
it  was  all  for  the  State  of  Texas.  We  wore  no  uniform, 
except  that  of  citizens  and  there  was  no  "making 
faces"  at  each  other,  as  between  the  citizens  and 
uniformed  soldiers.  We  struck  camp  four  miles  below 
Fort  McKavett,  on  the  San  Saba  River.  And  after 
regulating  camp  matters,  securing  supplies  and  for- 
age, and  the  routine,  we  will  soon  hand  you  something 
from  the  frontier  "bulletin  board".  We  may  not 
give  the  dates  correctly,  but,  from  first  to  last,  are 
our  most  important  dates,  covering  our  whole  service. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  Ill 


Fort  Davis  Scout 

About  the  25th  of  June,  1880, 1  got  a  telegram  from 
Judge  Frazier,  coming  from  Fort  Stockton,  Texas, 
asking  for  help.  Stockton  was  250  miles  from  our 
camp.  The  sense  of  this  telegram  was  that  five  men 
had  robbed  the  merchants  and  ''sacked"  the  town  of 
money  and  all  valuables  that  they  wanted  and  had 
gone  on  up  to  Fort  Davis,  repeating  the  same  thing 
there.  Fort  Davis  was  garrisoned  by  several  com- 
panies of  U.  S.  soldiers.  The  citizens  could  get  no 
help  from  them  as  they  could  only  act  as  a  "posse 
committatus".  The  Rangers  issued  a  kind  of  a  writ 
they  called  "Veni,  Vidi,  Vici,"  I  believe  that  means 
"I  came,  I  saw,  I  conquered. " 

They  arrested  some  of  the  county  officials  and  put 
their  own  men  to  guard  the  jail.  My  only  having 
detailed  seven  men  to  go  with  Sergeant  Ed.  Seiker, 
who  was  in  charge  of  the  scout,  made  eight  men  in 
all,  but  Sergeant  Caruthers,  of  the  Ranger  force,  had 
come  as  fast  as  the  mail  hack  could  bring  him,  from 
the  City  of  Austin,  and  joined  my  men  at  Fort  Davis, 
making  nine  all  told.  The  robbers  were  the  last  of  the 
"Billy  the  Kid"  bunch,  that  had  operated  in  New 
Mexico.  Their  names  were  Jesse  Evans,  John  Gunter 
and  three  of  the  Davis  brothers.  But  they  had  so 


112  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

many  aliases  that  identity  by  name  was  impossible, 
but  they  passed  by  these  names  in  New  Mexico.  They 
had  left  Fort  Davis  a  day  or  two  before  my  men  got 
there  and  the  Rangers  found  out  that  they  went  west. 
Sergeant  Seiker  divided  his  men  at  Davis,  leaving  pri- 
vate Miller,  B.  J.  Pound,  "Nick"  Brown  and  Henry 
Thomas  to  guard  the  jail.  Sergeant  Ed.  Seiker  took 
five  men  with  him,  who  were  R.  R.  Russell,  D.  T. 
Carson,  S.  A.  Henry,  Sergeant  Caruthers  and  George 
Bingham,  also  a  Mexican  guide.  They  left  Fort  Davis 
at  9  p.  m.  and  at  1  p.  m.  the  next  day  came  in  sight 
of  the  robbers.  They  were  about  a  mile  ahead  of  the 
Rangers  and  the  boys  being  eager  to  get  to  them  struck 
a  little  faster  gait,  which  move  caused  the  robbers  to 
leave  the  road  they  were  on  and  strike  for  a  canon 
some  distance  from  the  road.  The  Rangers  seeing 
that,  started  straight  for  them  at  good  speed.  The 
bandits  reached  the  gulch  first  and  dismounted  and 
took  shelter  behind  big  rocks  which  fringed  the  break 
of  the  gulch.  Sergeant  Seiker,  R.  R.  Russell,  D.  T. 
Carson  and  George  R.  Bingham  were  the  only  ones 
riding  Ranger  horses  and  the  others  could  not  keep 
up.  So  the  fight  fell  on  Seiker,  Carson,  Russell  and 
Bingham.  As  the  Rangers  approached,  firing  com- 
menced from  behind  those  rocks,  two  bullets  striking 
Carson's  horse  and  one  through  the  brim  of  his  hat, 
and  Bingham  was  shot  dead.  Carson,  Seiker  and  Rus- 
sell dismounted,  and  as  George  Davis  showed  up  from 
behind  a  rock  to  shoot,  Sergeant  Seiker  and  Carson 


HANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  113 

fired  at  him  almost  simultaneously,  Seiker 's  bullet 
striking  him  in  the  breast  and  as  he  fell  Carson's 
bullet  went  through  his  head.  The  other  bandits, 
seeing  the  quick  work  of  the  Rangers,  knew  some  more 
of  them  had  to  go,  and  they  broke  and  ran  under  the 
bluff,  out  of  sight  from  the  Rangers  and  got  under 
some  shelving  rocks. 

The  Rangers  were  hunting  them  like  blood  hounds 
and  one  of  them  yelled  out  that  they  would  surrender, 
if  they,  the  Rangers,  would  not  hurt  them.  Sergeant 
Seiker  told  them  to  come  out.  They  came  out,  gave 
up  their  arms,  and  were  taken  back  to  where  the  fir- 
ing commenced,  and  just  then  the  Mexican  guide  came 
up  and  told  them  that  one  of  their  men  was  killed. 
They  had  not  missed  poor  Bingham,  who  was  lying 
dead,  not  over  seventy-five  yards  from  them.  He 
being  behind  when  they  ran  up  into  the  fight  and  re- 
ceiving a  dead  shot.  The  Rangers  were  so  furious 
over  losing  one  of  their  comrades,  that  cartridges 
began  to  fly  into  their  guns  almost  automatically,  to 
finish  them  up,  while  the  poor  devils  were  begging 
for  life.  R.  R.  Russell  was  the  first  man  to  throw  a 
cartridge  into  his  gun  barrel,  and  the  first  man  to  say 
1 '  don 't  kill  them. " 

Mr.  Russell  is  now  President  of  the  State  Bank  and 
Trust  Company,  in  San  Antonio,  Texas,  and  is  reputed 
to  be  worth  nearly  two  million  dollars.  "Dick"  Rus- 
sell doesn't  think  that  he  was  any  better  than  Bing- 
ham, Sergeant  Seiker  or  D.  T.  Carson,  who  are  all 


114  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

dead,  but  remembers  them  with  that  fellow  feeling 
and  friendship  that  characterizes  God's  most  noble 
men. 

This  fight  occurred  on  the  3rd  day  of  July,  1880. 
They  buried  the  dead  on  July  4th,  on  the  road  from 
Fort  Davis  to  Paso  Del  Norte,  18  miles  from  the  Rio 
Grande.  The  citizens  of  Fort  Davis  gave  the  Rangers 
on  their  return  to  jail  with  those  prisoners,  $500.00 
in  cash  and  the  citizens  of  Fort  Stockton  gave  them 
$600.00  in  cash.  The  Rangers  didn't  consider  that  a 
pay  job,  but  received  the  money  thankfully.  The  cit- 
izens appeared  to  think  that  nothing  was  too  good  for 
those  poor  tired  and  hungry  boys  that  had  put  in  night 
and  day  on  that  long  scout  to  protect  them.  On  return 
of  the  Rangers  to  Fort  Davis  they  arrested  John 
Selman,  who  was  jailer  there.  Selman  was  the  man 
who  killed  John  Wesley  Hardin,  some  years  later.  So 
you  can  see  that  County  Judge  Frazier  and  the  Ran- 
gers wrought  a  mighty  change  there  in  a  short  time. 
The  prisoners  were  not  allowed  bond  and  were  kept  in 
jail  at  Fort  Davis  until  district  court  set.  The  grand 
jury  found  bills  against  them.  By  this  time  the  Davis 
brothers  had  to  disclose  their  true  identity,  as  they  had 
to  have  help.  Their  parents  lived  in  Texas  and  were 
highly  respected  and  wealthy.  But,  for  their  sake,  we 
with-hold  their  right  names  from  further  publicity. 
We  let  them  go  to  trial  under  their  robber  aliases. 
John  Gunter  and  Jesse  Evans  were  tried  under  those 
names  and  received  long  terms  in  the  penitentiary. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  115 

The  Davis  brothers  managed  to  get  bonds,  by  putting 
off  trial  and  the  bonds  were  forfeited  and  paid,  and 
that  ended  their  trial.  The  trial  judge  is  dead  and 
gone  and  we  will  say  nothing  more  about  it.  The  men 
that  were  in  that  scout  are  all  dead,  except  R.  R.  Rus- 
sell, who  lives  in  San  Antonio,  Texas;  S.  A.  Henry, 
who  lives  on  Nueces  River  in  Edwards  County,  and 
Sergeant  Caruthers,  near  Alpine,  in  Brewster  County. 
Those  three  should  have  a  reunion,  in  memory  of  the 
silent  dead  that  served  on  that  scout.  They  broke  up 
the  most  noted  band  of  outlaws  that  ever  infested 
any  state  or  country. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  117 


The  Potter  Scout— 1880 

I  had  not  been  in  camp  many  days,  when  a  messen- 
ger arrived  from  30  or  40  miles  west,  who  had  come 
through  torrents  of  rain,  to  inform  me  that  his  ranch 
and  neighbors  had  lost  a  number  of  horses,  and  he 
was  satisfied  that  white  men  had  stolen  them.  This 
messenger  was  "Sam"  Merk,  and  came  of  his  own  voli- 
tion. "Sam"  was  one  of  my  standbys,  to  help  me.  I 
detailed  a  scout  to  go  back  with  Merk  to  find  the  trail, 
which  I  knew  would  be  difficult,  on  account  of  the 
rain  having  put  it  out.  The  detail  numbered  seven 
men,  as  follows:  Sergeant  R.  G.  Kimble,  in  charge  of 
scout,  N.  J.  Brown,  Ed.  Dozier,  William  Dunman,  J. 
V.  Latham,  R.  C.  Roberts  and  Me.  Smith.  When 
the  scout  was  ready  to  move,  I  told  them  to  "catch 
them  if  they  stayed  on  top  of  the  ground".  This  was 
not  exactly  an  order,  but  rather  bad  advice,  as  I  had 
not  considered  state  lines.  It  dawned  upon  me  a  little 
later  that  we  were  state  troops.  I  was  a  little  "skit- 
tish" on  that  score,  just  having  been  "rounded  up" 
pretty  hard,  by  our  good  old  Governor  Roberts,  for 
an  incident  that  occurred,  involving  international  law. 
I  will  tell  it,  before  resuming  the  scout.  Sergeant  J. 
B.  Gillette,  was  on  detached  service,  on  the  Rio  Grande, 
and  at  El  Paso.  He  was  notified  by  the  civil  author- 


118  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

ities  at  Socorro,  New  Mexico,  that  a  certain  Mexican, 
giving  his  name  and  description  had  killed  an  editor 
at  Socorro,  and  fled  to  Mexico.  Gillette,  incidentally 
took  a  little  "paseow"  into  Mexico  and  finding  the 
man  lured  him  to  American  soil,  on  this  side,  Gillette 
nailed  him  and  wired  Socorro  that  he  would  be  up 
with  him,  on  a  certain  train.  The  train  was  held  up 
by  a  mob  within  a  mile  of  Socorro,  the  man  taken 
from  Gillette,  and  hanged  to  a  cottonwood  tree.  The 
Mexican  consul  at  Washington,  pounced  upon  Gov- 
ernor Roberts,  for  a  genuine  case  of  kidnapping.  Our 
Governor  replied,  if  Sergeant  Gillette  did  that,  he  was 
responsible  for  it,  as  it  was  by  no  authority  of  the 
state.  While  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  it,  the  Old 
Alcalde  (Governor  Roberts)  took  me  to  task.  He  gave 
me  the  name  and  address  of  every  extradition  officer 
on  the  Rio  Grande  and  in  sentences,  that  savored  of 
whole  spice,  he  told  me,  to  "not  let  such  a  thing  as 
that  occur  again".  I  took  it  like  a  little  boy  that  had 
been  stealing  watermelons,  and  was  glad  to  get  off 
that  way.  Gillette  didn't  belong  to  my  Company  at 
that  time. 

Now,  we  resume  the  scout.  The  scout  could  get  no 
trail  of  them,  where  the  stock  was  taken,  but  guessing 
the  course  they  would  take,  the  scout  bore  a  little  north 
of  west,  in  the  direction  of  old  Fort  Lancaster,  on 
Live  Oak  Creek,  near  its  junction  with  the  Pecos 
River.  When  the  scout  reached  Fort  Lancaster,  they 
heard  of  the  men,  passing  there  with  the  horses.  But, 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  119 

they  rode  two  or  three  days  behind  them.  The  scout 
pushed  on  up  the  Pecos  several  days,  being  on  their 
trail ;  most  of  their  horses  were  beginning  to  fail,  and 
Sergeant  Kimble  left  five  of  the  men  near  Horsehead 
crossing  on  the  Pecos  and  took  William  Dunman  with 
him  and  followed  on.  About  150  miles  up  the  Pecos, 
they  came  to  the  Hashknife  ranch,  finding  Billy  Smith 
there  in  charge,  he  giving  them  information  that  the 
men  had  passed  there  with  the  horses,  and  finding 
they  had  gained  on  them  pretty  well,  they  felt  en- 
couraged ;  their  horses  were  ' '  done  up ' '.  Billy  Smith 
rounded  up  three  of  the  best  horses  on  the  ranch,  and 
went  with  them  in  pursuit,  after  traveling  up  the  river 
a  long  distance,  they  noticed  that  the  trail  had  quit 
the  road.  Thinking  they  had  passed  them,  they  turn- 
ed back  down  the  road  to  pick  up  the  trail;  hadn't 
traveled  far,  when  they  saw  them  coming  to  meet 
them.  Sergeant  Kimble  thought  that  the  parties 
would  know  him,  and  he  quickly  planned  the  attack. 
He  was  right,  as  they  proved  to  be  Jim  and  John 
Potter,  both  knew  Kimble  well.  Kimble  told  Dunman 
and  Billy  Smith  to  slow  up  a  little,  and  he  would  ride 
more  brisk,  so  as  to  cover  the  space  between  them,  as 
one  of  them  was  riding  ahead  of  the  horses,  and  the 
other  behind  them,  making  about  50  yards  between 
them,  and  they  could  "come  down"  on  them  both  at 
once.  Kimble  pulled  his  hat  down  a  little,  over  his 
face,  and  passed  Jim  Potter,  and  went  on  to  John, 
and  "pulled  down"  on  him,  demanding  his  surrender. 


120  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

At  that  moment  firing  commenced  between  Jim  Potter, 
Dunman  and  Smith,  and  Potter  pulling  at  the  breech 
of  his  gun,  which  was  in  a  scabbard,  to  his  saddle, 
Kimble  telling  him  to  turn  it  loose,  or  he  would  kill 
him.  John  jumped  off  his  horse,  still  pulling  at  the 
gun,  and  Kimble  shot  him.  Sergeant  Kimble  looked 
around,  at  the  other  end  of  the  fight,  when  he  saw 
Jim  Potter  down  with  three  bullet  holes  in  him,  and 
Smith  and  Dunman 's  horses  both  shot.  Just  then  a 
strange  coincidence  came  in :  Frank  Potter,  a  brother 
of  Jim  and  John  Potter,  heard  the  firing,  and  came 
to  them,  finding  his  brothers  both  shot  down,  but  not 
dead.  It  is  a  certain  fact  that  the  Potters  knew  noth- 
ing of  the  whereabouts  of  each  other.  Frank  Potter 
was  a  very  good  man,  and  was  working  on  a  cattle 
ranch  some  miles  away.  Jim  and  John  were  removed 
to  a  ranch,  some  eight  or  ten  miles  away,  and  Frank 
helped  to  take  care  of  them,  until  "Jim"  died,  two 
days  later,  and  the  Bangers  took  John  to  Fort  Davis 
for  treatment,  where  he  finally  recovered.  They 
brought  John  back  to  Kimble  County,  and  I  turned 
him  over  to  the  sheriff,  and  he  took  him  to  San  Antonio 
jail,  for  safe  keeping.  When  district  court  set,  in 
Kimble  County,  the  sheriff,  Joe  Clemens,  went  after 
him,  and  returning  with  him,  at  the  head  of  the  Gua- 
dalupe  River  a  mob  over-powered  Sheriff  Clemens 
and  shot  Potter  to  death. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  121 


Waiting  on  the  Courts 

Our  activity  in  putting  down  cattle  theft,  mail  rob- 
bery; and  all  kinds  of  lawlessness,  entailed  upon  us 
nearly  the  whole  duty  of  re-establishing  civil  govern- 
ment, in  the  frontier  districts.  Consequently,  our 
appearance  in  the  district  courts,  against  criminals, 
became  a  necessity.  We  waited  on  all  courts,  except 
the  kangaroo  variety  and  even  instituted  that  in  camp. 
"We  hardly  knew  whether  we  were  Rangers,  or  court 
officers.  The  number  of  arrests  we  made  could  not 
be  enumerated  without  our  adjutant  general 's  reports. 
We  gained  the  ill-will  of  all  evil-doers,  and  they  were 
our  bitter  enemies.  We  began  to  think  that  we  could 
tell,  when  we  made  an  arrest,  whether  the  man  was 
guilty  or  not.  If  he  belonged  to  the  " Buckskin  Joe" 
class,  he  would  begin  to  chant  some  little  song,  of 
"wild  and  wooly"  origin,  which  would  tell  the  com- 
pany he  had  been  in.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was 
shrewd,  and  capable  of  doing  big  mischief,  he  would 
deport  himself  nearly  like  a  gentleman,  as  the  cir- 
cumstances would  admit  of,  but,  his  linking  himself  up 
up  with  legitimate  business  and  responsible  men,  was 
where  he  "fell  down".  The  class  of  Texas  criminals 
in  those  days,  was  different  to  what  they  are  now.  In 
those  days,  they  had  collected  on  the  frontier,  in 


122  BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

numbers  to  defy  the  law,  and  instituted  plans  that 
would  protect  them  from  the  law.  Since  the  advent  of 
the  railroad  we  first  got  the  "tramp",  and  we  must 
say,  that  name  is  an  unfair  ephithet,  applied  to  poor 
men,  out  of  employment,  whether  they  are  indigent 
of  unfortunate.  The  professional  tramp  is  the  spawn 
of  crowded  cities,  bred  under  conditions  that  were 
foreign  to  American  spirit,  and  simply  made  him  a 
creature,  hunting  sustenance  to  satisfy  hunger.  Next 
came  the  professionals,  burglars,  cracksmen,  robbers, 
and  "hold-ups"  of  every  description,  that  were  run 
away  from  municipal  governments  of  large  cities. 
Texas  was  not  as  good  a  field  as  they  had  supposed, 
owing  to  the  vast  territory  the  state  covered,  and  no 
big  cities  to  shelter  them  from  identity,  as  almost 
every  man  knows  his  neighbor,  and  strangers  were 
"spotted"  without  difficulty.  So,  after  getting  rid 
of  the  original  Texas  outlaw,  the  Eastern  aftermath 
has  been  "handled  with  care"  with  Pandora's  box 
labeled  "this  side  up".  While  Texas  is  not  entirely 
immune  from  evil,  or  infractions  of  law,  we  believe 
she  is  the  peer  of  any  state,  along  the  line  of  good 
government. 

If  the  Eangers  can  claim  a  small  part  in  this,  it 
reverts  back  to  the  state  which  maintained  that  service. 
We  can  only  claim  a  modest  share  as  citizens.  Our 
work  may  have  some  merit,  in  handling  the  Indian 
trouble,  and  we  leave  the  citizens  of  the  frontier,  and 
progress  of  the  state  to  answer  for  us.  We  set  out  to 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  123 

record  the  services  of  Company  "D"  Frontier  Bat- 
talion, but  not  to  particularize  our  company  as  being 
most  prominent.  We  were  in  possession  of  the  correct 
data  of  our  own  work,  and  have  partially  given  it, 
in  simple  justice  to  the  brave  men  that  served  with  us. 
There  were  five  other  companies  in  the  Frontier  Bat- 
talion, and  that  each  of  them  did  good  service,  is  not 
left  to  criticism,  but  to  their  several  honorable  records. 
Company  "  D  "  survived  our  resignation  from  the  ser- 
vice, and  did  splendid  work  along  old  lines,  until  it 
was  minimized  by  niggardly  appropriations,  and 
could  hardly  maintain  a  ' '  corporal  guard ' '.  The  spirit 
was  in  the  men,  but  the  handicap  ruled  them  down  to 
such  subordination,  that  they  lost  the  prestige  of  doing 
things  in  the  Ranger  way.  They  did  fine  service,  as 
only  a  small  auxiliary  branch  of  the  civil  government, 
but  lost  the  lead,  as  a  state  force.  The  state  was  right 
in  this,  as  the  Ranger  service  had  served  the  splendid 
purpose  for  which  it  was  organized,  at  least  to  the 
extent  that  put  the  border  counties  safely  in  the  hands 
of  their  civil  officers.  But  the  state  showed  her  grati- 
tude, in  almost  a  pathetic  way,  by  preserving  the  name 
Ranger,  in  allowing  a  small  organization  to  exist  under 
that  name.  This  involves  a  fine  point,  allowing  the 
Rangers  to  be  a  military  organization,  which  ' l  cropped 
out ' '  in  the  present  Mexico  troubles.  If  they  are  only 
state  troops,  their  work  is  preceeding  martial  law.  We 
take  it,  that  their  work  can  only  follow  in  the  wake 
of  civil  authority,  unless  they  are  declared  militia. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  125 


Pegleg  Stage  Robbing— 1880 

There  was  a  stage  station,  on  the  San  Saba  River, 
on  the  Fort  Mason  and  Fort  McKavett  road,  the  dis- 
tance being  about  80  miles,  between  Mason  and  Mc- 
Kavett, and  Pegleg  was  just  half  way  between  the  two. 
A  series  of  stage  robbing,  had  been  kept  up,  near 
Pegleg  station  for  a  long  time,  and  the  robbers  had 
not  been  apprehended. 

We  detailed  a  man,  to  go  with  the  stage  coach  while 
passing  this  notorious  piece  of  road ;  and  he  would  lie 
down  on  top  of  the  coach,  with  a  double  barreled  shot 
gun,  in  his  grip,  to  await  developments.  The  stage 
driver  didn't  dare  to  make  a  fight  with  the  robbers, 
and  the  passengers  were  generally  unarmed.  No  stage 
robbing  occurred,  for  a  considerable  time,  and  we  con- 
cluded that  the  real  robbers,  had  been  informed  of 
what  was  going  on.  "We  recalled  the  Ranger  from 
his  lofty  perch  on  the  coach.  But  little  time  had  pass- 
ed when  the  stage  was  robbed  again  near  Pegleg.  This 
time  there  were  several  passengers  on  the  coach,  includ- 
ing an  officer  of  the  U.  S.  army.  This  officer  was 
plucky,  and  tried  to  make  a  fight  on  them  with  a  little 
38  calibre  pistol,  which  would  only  have  served  to  get 
him  killed.  The  other  passengers  had  to  take  hold  of 
him,  to  stop  him,  as  they  thought  it  would  cause  all 


126  HANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

of  them  to  be  killed.  Only  two  robbers  appeared. 
The  robbers  "went  through"  the  passengers,  then  cut 
open  the  mail  sacks,  and  took  all  valuables  to  be  found. 
The  drivers  thought  it  was  not  much  use  to  sew  up  the 
mail  sacks,  as  it  was  costing  "Uncle  Sam"  too  much 
to  furnish  them.  The  officer  lost  some  money,  his  little 
shooter,  and  other  things  valuable  to  him.  When  the 
stage  came  up  opposite  my  camp,  this  officer  sent  me  a 
list,  description  of  the  things  taken  from  the  pas- 
sengers. 

I  thought  it  not  much  use  to  lose  twenty  miles  riding 
to  pick  up  a  cold  trail,  and  I  took  four  men  with  me, 
and  started  due  east,  to  "cut  sign".  After  I  had 
traveled  six  or  eight  miles,  I  saw  four  men  riding 
straight  across  my  course,  and  going  north.  I  thought 
I  had  them.  I  bore  in  slightly  towards  them.  I  saw 
them  fixing  their  guns  for  business,  but  I  made  no 
demonstration  to  show  them  that  I  saw  it.  I  got  up 
in  talking  distance  of  them,  and  knew  them,  which 
confirmed  it  more  with  me,  that  they  were  the  right 
men.  I  "jollied"  them  a  little,  but  kept  gaming  on 
them.  I  saw  they  had  their  guns  across  their  saddles, 
in  front  of  them.  They  were  riding  in  a  straight 
breast,  with  their  thumbs  on  the  hammers  of  their 
guns.  I  tried  to  engage  them  in  "very  pleasant  con- 
versation". A  man  named  Jackson  was  riding  on  the 
left  of  their  breast,  thumb  on  the  hammer  of  his  gun, 
and  I  knew  he  was  a  bad  ' '  hombre ' '.  I  rode  up  nearly 
to  his  side,  but  was  careful  to  not  get  before  the  muzzle 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  127 

of  his  gun,  and  almost  as  quick  as  lightning,  I  jerked 
my  pistol  and  shoved  it  against  him,  telling  him  to  turn 
that  gun  loose,  or  I  would  kill  him.  At  the  same  in- 
stant, my  men  covered  them  from  the  rear.  Jackson 
was  stubborn,  and  held  to  his  gun  until  he  could  almost 
feel  my  bullet,  when  his  hands  limbered  and  his  cour- 
age likewise. 

I  made  them  dismount,  and  made  them  take  their 
clothes  off  down  to  stockings,  and  examined  them 
carefully  for  the  articles  missing  from  the  stage  pas- 
sengers. They  had  some  sacks,  tied  to  their  saddles 
which  were  full  of  clothing,  all  new.  I  could  find 
nothing  that  came  off  the  stage.  I  fired  off  their  guns, 
told  them  to  dress,  which  they  did,  and  in  meantime, 
I  was  figuring  what  to  do  with  them. 

I  knew  I  had  arrested  them  without  a  warrant,  and 
an  idea  struck  me.  I  told  them  if  they  would  leave 
that  country,  and  never  bother  me,  or  people  living 
there  again,  I  would  turn  them  loose.  This  brightened 
them  up,  almost  to  a  feeling  of  friendship,  and  they 
promised  me  that  they  would  leave  for  ' '  keeps ' '.  They 
did  leave,  and  were  not  seen  there  any  more.  And 
the  Pegleg  stage  was  not  robbed  any  more. 

My  theory  was,  (after  I  found  out  they  had  robbed 
a  store,  south  of  there,  securing  the  goods  I  found  in 
their  sacks)  that,  they  had  failed  to  connect  with  the 
two  that  robbed  the  mail,  but  had  to  get  away  from 
there  just  the  same.  After  we  parted,  we  viewing  their 
backs,  until  they  were  out  of  gun  shot,  one  of  my 


128  BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

"boys"  began  to  laugh.  He  had  found  a  name  for 
me.  He  called  me  "Pecos  Bob".  Pecos  Bob  was  a 
character  that  prided  himself  on  "drawing  first  and 
getting  the  drop  on  his  victim".  (Pecos  Bob,  was 
Bob  Ollinger).  My  men  joked  me  pretty  much  as 
they  pleased,  for  they  had  to,  in  self  defense.  My 
dignity,  as  an  officer,  only  reached  to  positive  orders, 
that  were  obeyed  to  a  letter,  and  after  that,  my  men 
and  myself  met  on  a  common  plane  of  friendship. 

Along  this  line  of  work,  Major  Jones  once  made 
what  we  called  a  ' '  round  up  "  in  a  locality  where  those 
fellows  almost  had  their  sway.  And  by  a  concerted 
move,  which  was  done  in  one  day,  every  man  that 
could  be  found,  was  brought  to  camp.  The  better 
people  of  that  section  didn't  object  to  this,  and  the 
worse  ones,  being  in  the  "herd"  had  little  grounds 
for  objections,  as  all  fared  alike.  The  Major  with  his 
keen  sagacity  and  knowledge  of  them,  enabled  him  to 
sort  them  out  to  the  "Queen's  taste".  That  move 
made  economy  in  work,  and  alarmed  the  whole  fra- 
ternity of  evil-doers.  They  didn't  know  but  what 
Colonel  Roy  Bean's  law,  (law  west  of  the  Pecos)  had 
prevailed  all  over  the  state.  It  was  not  exactly  mar- 
tial law,  but  a  kind  of  "writ  of  rouster".  Company 
"D"  was  used  for  this  job,  the  Company  was  then 
under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Frank  Moore.  The 
"bad  men"  didn't  know  what  to  look  for  next,  and 
began  to  strike  for  "tall  timber".  The  Pecos  country, 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  129 

New  Mexico  and  Arizona  caught  an  unenviable  lot  of 
them. 

By  this  time,  we  were  getting  the  support  of  the 
best  citizens,  and  their  untiring  help  almost  put  them 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Rangers.  Our  camp  was  their 
headquarters,  and  their  homes  were  our  welcome  rest- 
ing places.  They  furnished  us  anything  that  our  tem- 
porary needs  might  call  for,  without  any  charge 
against  the  state,  and  many  a  hungry  Ranger  shared 
their  hospitality. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  131 


Stealing  Saddles 

While  we  were  encamped  in  Kimble  County,  my 
"boys"  had  become  a  little  "gay"  as  society  men,  and 
attended  the  numerous  dances  given  by  the  citizens, 
where  they  were  welcome  and  received  marked  atten- 
tion. On  one  occasion,  of  a  great  baile,  I  gave  permis- 
sion to  four  of  my  men  to  attend  the  dance.  I  could 
hear  expressions  in  camp  of  certain  young  ladies, 
being  "about  the  idea"  of  the  Rangers,  as  about  all 
that  was  beautiful  and  proper,  and  in  turn  the  young 
ladies  had  conferred  upon  them  degrees  of  knight- 
hood that  would  put  the  Arabians  to  flight.  This 
dance  was  given  at  Junction  City,  in  Kimble  County, 
eight  miles  south  of  my  camp.  Deputy  Sheriff  Joe 
Clemens  made  my  camp  his  business  headquarters, 
and  on  this  occasion  he  went  to  the  dance  with  my  men. 
They  tied  their  horses  all  together,  leaving  their 
saddles  on  the  horses  and  left  no  guard  with  them. 
They  brushed  up  their  suits,  and  adjusted  collars, 
and  went  to  the  ball  room  as  gay  as  larks.  They  real- 
ized their  visions  of  pleasure,  until  just  before  day- 
light, when  they  returned  to  their  horses,  to  come  to 
camp.  Lo  and  behold,  two  of  the  Rangers  had  lost 
their  saddles,  and  Sheriff  Clemens  had  lost  his.  It  was 
fortunate  they  could  get  out  of  town  before  daylight, 


132  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

to  cover  the  humiliation  they  felt.  Sheriff  Clemens 
came  to  camp  with  them,  and  of  all  the  crestfallen 
"boys"  they  looked  the  worst.  Clemens  was  to  break 
the  news  to  me,  which  he  did,  and  he  shared  fully  the 
discomfort  of  the  Rangers.  I  tried  to  look  "sour" 
about  it,  but  my  amusement  was  too  great.  There 
were  certain  parties  in  the  country  there,  whom  I  had 
put  under  my  ban  of  suspicion,  and  they  were  con- 
stantly so,  notwithstanding  their  galvanized  appear- 
ance. I  questioned  Sheriff  Clemens,  as  to  whom  he 
had  seen  in  the  town  that  night.  He  told  me  of  the 
outsiders  that  he  had  noticed;  of  course  they  would 
not  come  into  the  ball  room,  except  to  peep  in,  so  as 
to  locate  the  Rangers.  I  told  Clemens  to  stay  right 
there  in  camp  that  day  and  to  make  no  demonstrations 
of  search  to  create  any  excitement,  and  when  night 
came  to  come  with  me  and  we  would  get  the  saddles. 
This  statement  seemed  to  astound  him.  Mr.  Clemens 
was  a  ranchman,  as  well  as  sheriff,  and  knew  every 
cow  trail  in  that  vicinity.  I  knew  that  the  parties 
who  stole  the  saddles  would  leave  a  spy  at  Junction 
City,  to  see  what  would  be  done,  and  to  inform  the 
others,  if  they  were  in  danger.  Just  after  dark,  I 
took  five  men  with  me,  including  the  two  men  that  had 
lost  their  saddles,  so  that  they  could  identify  their 
saddles,  also  Sheriff  Clemens  went  with  me.  We 
passed  around  the  town  of  Junction  City,  so  that  no 
one  would  see  us,  and  crossed  the  Llano  River  to  the 
south  and  gained  a  high  ridge,  or  divide,  running 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  133 

west,  in  the  direction  I  wanted  to  go,  to  get  to  the 
camp  of  the  parties  I  suspected,  the  distance  being 
fifteen  or  twenty  miles  from  Junction  City.  We 
reached  one  of  the  camps  just  before  daylight,  and 
went  in  on  them  in  the  innocent  occupation  of  sleep. 
We  found  one  of  the  men  there  that  I  had  suspected ; 
we  invited  him  out  to  take  breakfast  with  us,  and 
the  invitation  was  so  pressing  that  he  didn't  resist  it. 
We  took  him  about  one  and  a  half  miles  west,  to 
where  a  road  passed  up  Chalk  Creek,  running  up  to 
these  camps  from  the  Llano  River,  and  from  the  main 
road  that  ran  up  the  River.  We  stopped  on  the  road 
to  get  breakfast  and  put  out  a  picket  above,  and  below 
us  on  the  road,  with  orders  to  bring  anyone  to  camp 
that  might  pass  that  way.  Of  course,  this  was  simple 
hospitality,  to  give  them  breakfast,  but  it  was  not 
an  appetizer  to  some  of  them.  One  of  the  pickets 
brought  Charles  Beardsley  up  to  breakfast.  I  knew 
Mr.  Beardsley  had  been  with  Hensley,  the  first  man 
captured,  and  his  early  mission  was  to  give  the  news, 
of  what  was  going  on  at  Junction  City.  I  could  get 
nothing  out  of  Hensley  regarding  the  saddles.  After 
we  had  breakfast,  I  told  three  of  my  men  to  stay 
there  at  the  camp  fire  with  Beardsley,  and  I  would 
take  Hensley  up  into  a  little  cedar  brake,  close  by, 
and  after  I  was  out  of  sight  to  fire  off  their  guns, 
and  turn  Beardsley  loose,  and  come  on  up  to  where 
I  was,  which  was  done  according  to  orders.  Hensley 
heard  the  firing  of  the  guns,  and  looked  at  me  with 


134  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

a  chilly  sensation  and  said  to  me  ' '  Captain,  they  have 
killed  that  man".  I  didn't  answer  him  directly,  but 
said  to  him :  ' '  Now  if  you  know  anything  about  those 
saddles,  you  had  better  tell  it  quick".  I  saw  his  lips 
began  to  quiver,  and  the  tears  began  to  trickle  down 
his  cheeks,  when  he  said  to  me,  "  Captain,  if  you 
will  let  me  go,  and  not  punish  me,  I  will  show  you 
the  saddles".  He  was  only  eighteen  or  nineteen 
years  old,  and  looked  like  he  would  be  a  better  boy, 
in  different  company.  So  I  told  him  I  would  turn  him 
loose  if  he  showed  up  the  saddles,  provided,  that  he 
would  leave  there,  and  quit  the  company  he  was  in. 
He  assured  me  that  he  would  leave  immediately,  and 
go  east  to  his  home,  and  stay  there.  He  took  us  to 
the  saddles,  which  were  hidden  in  a  big  shinoak  thicket, 
not  far  from  where  we  found  him,  and  the  saddles 
looked  like  they  could  almost  speak  the  praise  of 
redemption.  We  put  the  saddles  on  the  packmule, 
and  went  down  into  the  public  road  that  passed  up 
the  river  from  Junction,  and  Sheriff  Clemens  was 
riding  with  me,  and  after  some  silence  he  said  "I'll 
be  d — d  if  this  don't  beat  anything  I  ever  saw".  We 
had  not  gone  far  down  the  road,  when  we  met  the 
principal  actor  in  the  saddle  stealing,  who  had  stayed 
back,  at  Junction,  "to  listen  for  thunder".  We  want- 
ed him  anyway,  and  took  him  back  with  the  saddles. 
My  boys  that  lost  the  saddles  were  very  tender  on  the 
subject,  and  it  would  have  been  absolutely  cruel  to 
have  teased  them  about  it.  Beardsley  told  subse- 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  135 

quently  that  my  men  shot  at  him,  and  one  of  the  men, 
whose  saddle  was  stolen  sent  him  word  that  if  he  didn  't 
stop  that  lying  ''he  would  wear  him  out  with  a  quirt ". 
The  man  we  brought  back  with  the  saddles  was  not 
tried  for  saddle  stealing,  but  was  sentenced  to  a  two 
year  term  in  the  penitentiary  for  cattle  stealing,  but 
made  his  escape,  with  irons  on  him,  and  was  not  ap- 
prehended afterwards. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  137 


Cattle  Stealing 

A  few  days  after  the  saddle  raid,  a  Mr.  Evans,  who 
lived  in  Mason  County,  reported  to  me  that  he  had 
lost  all  his  cattle,  including  his  work  oxen  and  in  all 
had  lost  fifty-three  head ;  he  said  the  trail  of  the  cattle 
had  started  west.  I  took  a  scout  immediately-  and 
"cut  sign"  for  the  trail;  I  found  the  trail,  going  west, 
and  followed  it,  as  rapidly  as  I  could,  but  could  not 
find  anyone,  who  had  seen  the  parties,  or  the  cattle. 
The  trail  went  up  the  South  Llano  River,  for  25  miles, 
then  bore  south,  to  the  head  of  the  Frio  River,  that 
was  called  Frio  water  hole ;  after  watering  there,  they 
struck  straight  west,  to  the  head  of  the  Nueces  River. 
I  was  not  far  behind  them  at  the  Frio  water  hole.  I 
could  give  a  good  guess  then  where  they  were  taking 
the  cattle.  Fort  Clark,  near  the  Rio  Grande  was  then 
a  good  market  for  butchers'  cattle,  and  I  was  satisfied 
they  were  taking  them  there.  We  pushed  on  the  trail, 
until  about  three  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  we 
reached  the  head  of  the  Nueces  River.  The  trail  took 
down  the  old  Fort  Clark  road,  running  down  the  river, 
and  we  were  close  to  them;  within  an  hour's  march, 
we  were  in  sight  of  the  dust,  caused  by  driving  the 
cattle.  The  road  ran  through  a  dense  growth  of  cedar, 
and  shinoak  brush,  and  our  chance  to  get  the  men 


138  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

was  to  catch  them  in  some  open  space.  We  slowed  up, 
and  watched  for  this  chance,  until  they  drove  down 
into  the  bed  of  the  river,  where  the  road  crossed,  then 
we  put  spurs  to  our  horses  and  ran  in  on  them,  before 
they  could  cross,  and  captured  them  in  the  bed  of  the 
river.  One  of  them  tried  to  make  a  run,  but  we  round- 
ed him  up,  before  he  got  to  the  lead  of  the  cattle. 
There  were  only  two  men  driving  the  cattle  5  one  of 
them  called  himself  Kiser ;  the  other  one  we  knew,  and 
was  satisfied  that  Kiser  had  gotten  him  into  the  steal- 
ing, as  he  was  only  17  or  18  years  old.  I  knew  we 
could  not  get  out  of  that  brush  that  evening,  with  a 
lot  of  sore-footed  and  tired  cattle,  but  drove  back  as 
far  as  we  could,  and  camped  for  the  night.  Mr.  Amon 
Billings  happened  to  come  by  camp,  and  said  he  could 
get  us  some  feed  for  our  horses,  before  midnight,  which 
he  did.  We  " hog-tied"  Senor  Kiser,  with  a  rope  and 
kept  a  guard  over  them  that  night,  and  managed  to 
keep  all  our  stock  until  daylight,  after  which,  we  soon 
reached  the  open  country.  We  were  four  days  getting 
back  to  camp,  with  the  cattle  and  prisoners.  We 
notified  Mr.  Evans  to  come  and  get  his  cattle,  and  to 
say  he  was  a  proud  man,  was  barely  expressing  it,  as 
it  was  about  all  the  poor  man  had.  Court  was  in 
session  at  Junction  City,  and  Kiser  was  sent  to  the 
penitentiary  for  a  long  term,  but  escaped  from  the 
"pen"  after  serving  only  a  short  while.  Kiser  took 
the  trouble  to  tell  me  that  he  would  kill  me,  if  he  had 
to  follow  to  the  "end  of  the  world".  I  paid  no  at- 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  139 

tention  to  his  threat ;  soon  after  this,  I  moved  my  camp 
back  to  the  San  Saba  River.  My  own  quarters  were 
about  100  yards  from  the  main  Ranger  camp,  and 
facing  it.  One  night,  after  my  wife  and  myself  had 
retired,  some  one  rode  up  to  the  back  of  my  tent,  and 
hailed  two  or  three  times.  I  whispered  to  my  wife 
to  keep  still.  I  reached  for  my  gun,  which  I  always 
had  in  reach,  and  quietly  stepped  out  of  the  tent,  and 
came  around  the  tent,  rather  opposite  from  the  open 
way,  with  my  gun  ready  to  fire,  when  he  whirled  his 
horse  and  ran  off,  muttering  some  low  "cuss  words'* 
as  he  went.  He  must  have  seen  the  muzzle  of  my  gun 
coming,  in  advance  of  his  intended  victim.  I  tracked 
him  next  morning,  to  where  he  went  into  the  Fort 
McKavett  road  and  from  his  horse  tracks  he  had 
lost  no  time.  There  was  a  big  bright  guard  fire,  in 
the  Ranger  camp,  and  I  knew  if  it  was  anyone  on 
square  business,  they  would  have  gone  to  the  guard 
first.  I  have  always  felt  certain  it  was  Kiser,  but 
his  nerve  was  not  as  good  as  he  thought  it  was. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  141 


Mavericks 


In  the  early  days  of  Texas,  say  from  1845  to  1860, 
the  cattle  men  worked  together,  in  perfect  harmony, 
and  to  each  other's  interest.  Mr.  "Sam"  Maverick 
was  probably  the  largest  cattle  owner  in  the  state, 
at  that  time.  So  large  was  the  area  of  his  cattle  range, 
that  he  could  hardly  get  over  it  in  one  season  to 
mark  and  brand  his  calves.  Mr.  Maverick  was  a 
wealthy  and  influential  man,  and  the  small  cattle  own- 
ers looked  out  for  his  interest,  together  with  their  own. 
Texas  had  enacted  a  law,  that  any  animal,  of  bovine 
kind,  was  public  property,  after  it  became  one  year 
old,  and  was  not  marked  or  branded,  and  was  not 
following  its  mother.  This  was  a  bad  law,  but  it  was 
the  law,  just  the  same.  When  the  cattle  men  were 
working  their  respective  ranges,  and  came  upon  a 
yearling  that  was  not  marked  or  branded,  they  gener- 
ally conceded  it  belonged  to  Mr.  Maverick.  So  com- 
mon was  the  expression,  Maverick,  that  they  applied 
it  straight  to  the  animal,  hence,  an  unmarked  animal 
was  a  Maverick.  The  term  Maverick  became  so  com- 
mon over  the  state  that  it  was  indeed  general.  The 
stock  men  tried  to  stay  by  the  law,  but  so  many  men 
that  had  become  handy  with  the  rope,  saw  their  ad- 
vantage, and  would  take  a  yearling  from  its  mother, 


142  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

although  it  might  be  sucking  her,  and  call  it  a  mav- 
eriek.  Such  men  had  but  little  invested  in  cattle,  but 
would  mark  out  a  brand  in  the  road  if  they  had  no 
paper  to  mark  it  on,  and  push  cattle  operations  to 
an  extent  that  would  soon  show  that  they  were  "in 
it".  Then,  the  fault  of  the  law  became  glaring,  and 
the  Texas  Legislators  had  to  substitute  criminal 
clauses  in  lieu  of  their  "slip  shod"  liberality  in  the 
first  law,  allowing  a  yearling  to  be  public  property, 
provided  it  was  not  marked  or  branded. 

Mr.  W.  J.  Bryan's  great  expression,  coined  by  him- 
self, a  *  *  twilight  zone ' '  had  not  come  into  verbal  use, 
in  those  days  but  it  was  certainly  in  practical  use  by 
cattle  "rustlers"  to  cover  their  deeds  by  law,  anent 
open  stealing.  But,  broad  open  daylight  stealing  was 
the  sequel  of  the  mooted  controversy.  The  legitimate 
cattle  owners  were  the  sufferers.  In  1861,  when  the 
war  between  the  states  had  become  a  bloody  battle  that 
called  for  all  able  bodied  men  to  enter  the  service,  the 
State  of  Texas  was  literally  covered  with  cattle,  and 
their  owners  being  called  away,  left  their  cattle  to 
roam  where  they  might,  and  without  attention.  Those 
of  the  ranchmen  that  returned  home  after  the  war, 
found  their  cattle  scattered  to  the  "four  winds"  and 
hundreds  of  them  were  three  and  four  years  old, 
without  a  mark  or  brand.  This  was  particularly  the 
case  on  the  frontier  of  Texas.  The  rightful  owners 
could  not  identify  this  unmarked  stock,  and  they  be- 
came public  property  again.  This  invited  every  man 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  143 

that  could  get  a  few  ponies  and  ropes,  to  enter  the 
field,  as  though  he  was  really  a  cattle  owner,  and 
according  to  his  energy  in  the  work,  he  succeeded  in 
branding  a  very  good  herd  in  a  short  time.  There  was 
no  market  for  cattle  in  Texas,  and  we  have  known  par- 
ties to  corral  big  numbers  of  cattle  and  kill  them  for 
the  hides.  A  plug  of  tobacco  was  a  standard  price 
for  a  good  yearling.  Kansas  soon  opened  up  as  a 
cattle  market,  and  driving  herds  to  Kansas,  started 
up  the  cattle  business  again.  John  Chisum  opened 
up  the  Chisum  trail  to  Kansas,  over  which  many 
herds  were  driven.  The  cattle  industry  was  then  in 
the  lead  of  cotton,  and  about  the  only  source  to  get 
money  to  repair  war  losses.  The  man  who  could  have 
reaped  the  greatest  benefit  out  of  cattle,  by  rightful 
ownership,  could  only  hold  their  original  branded 
stock,  (and  hardly  that)  on  account  of  the  conditions 
that  had  grown  up  beyond  their  control.  Many  large 
farmers,  who  had  depended  on  negro  labor,  found 
themselves  without  an  occupation,  and  some  of  them 
went  into  the  cattle  business.  Such  men  generally 
"made  good",  but  they  were  "up  against"  the  "sys- 
tem" of  handling  cattle,  which,  in  many  cases, 
amounted  to  open  stealing.  Such  conditions  had  en- 
ticed many  men  to  come  out  on  the  frontier,  who 
didn't  own  cattle,  but  could  manipulate  cattle  "rust- 
lers" to  great  advantage.  They  soon  organized  "jun- 
tas" that  defied  civil  law,  and  the  matter  grew  from 
bad  to  worse,  until  the  armed  power  of  the  state  had 


144  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

to  be  employed  to  stop  it.  The  civil  officers  of  the 
sparsely  settled  counties,  could  not  handle  them.  This 
put  the  Rangers  after  the  rustlers,  which  took  a  big 
part  of  their  time,  outside  of  fighting  Indians  and 
other  enemies  to  the  cattle  men.  The  "cow  men"  re- 
sponded to  our  efforts  like  warriors  and  often  faced 
the  bullets  with  us,  against  the  common  enemy. 

Thus,  you  will  see,  that  after  a  cattle  man  had 
earned  what  he  had,  he  had  to  fight  to  keep  it.  But, 
the  power  of  the  state,  combining  the  splendid  indi- 
vidual effort  of  the  cattle  men,  sustained  the  industry, 
and  it  still  ranks  as  one  of  the  greatest  industries  in 
the  State  of  Texas.  When  cotton  fails,  as  a  money 
crop,  cattle  stands  between  the  people  and  the  black 
Ghost  of  Panic,  and  sustains  Texas,  as  one  of  the  great- 
est states  of  the  Union.  We  know  but  little  of  the 
methods  of  the  Stockraisers '  Association,  but.  we  do 
know  that  organized  effort  is  the  winning  card  in 
modern  business  ventures.  We  remember  the  first 
effort  of  the  farmers,  who  organized  what  they  called 
a  Grange,  which  was  later  merged  into  the  famous 
Alliance.  That  was  to  protect  the  farmer  from  an 
undue  tax,  levied  on  them,  by  commercialism  and  the 
wily  middleman,  who  stood  between  the  producer  and 
his  market,  as  a  sinecure,  that  neither  produced,  or 
consumed,  more  than  to  keep  individual  selfishness 
alive.  So  it  is  with  the  stockraiser.  He  can  not  afford 
to  be  at  the  mercy  of  organized  capital,  which  is  sim- 
ply waiting  to  dictate  to  him,  what  per  cent  he  shall 
get  out  of  his  toil. 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  145 


The  Killing  of  Sam  Bass 

Major  John  B.  Jones  had  been  making  a  trap  for 
Sam  Bass  and  his  band  for  several  years,  and  when  the 
trap  was  finished  and  the  triggers  set,  it  proved  to 
be  a  dead  fall.  Sam  Bass  was  from  Indiana  and  came 
to  Texas  and  made  his  headquarters  in  Denton  County 
and  in  the  town  of  Denton,  Texas.  He  was  said  to  be 
a  man  of  pleasant  address  and  closely  counterfeited 
a  gentleman.  He  studied  men  and  their  character 
more  than  business  and  soon  found  a  few  that  would 
work  well  in  his  cabinet.  He,  however,  didn't  believe 
distributing  his  patronage  to  many,  as  a  grave  trust, 
in  his  line,  demanded  men  of  steel  nerve.  He  enlisted 
Jackson,  one  named  Underwood  and  a  man  named 
Murphy,  also  Seba  Barnes.  This  collection  made  by 
Bass  was  not  done  in  one  day,  or  in  one  year,  but  by 
long  and  careful  study  of  those  men,  by  passing  on 
them,  as  competent  for  his  service.  Bass  was  not  a 
petty  thief,  but  a  bold  robber.  His  biggest  opera- 
tions were  not  in  Texas.  He  and  his  gang  robbed  a 
train  in  Nebraska  and  got  $20,000  in  gold.  Bass  and 
his  men  struck  south,  through  the  unsettled  portion  of 
Western  Kansas,  and  into  the  Panhandle  of  Texas, 
and  continued  down  into  Denton  County,  Texas.  I 
don't  suppose  they  saw  a  living  white  man  in  that 


146  BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

thousand  miles  of  travel.  There  was  a  thousand  miles 
between  them  and  any  civil  officer  or  detective,  to 
ferret  them  out.  The  newspaper  account  of  the  rob- 
bery, the  number  that  did  it  and  the  direction  they 
started  was  all  that  could  be  found  out.  None  of  them 
were  known  where  it  happened.  Bass  and  his  party 
traveled  by  compass  and  came  nearly  straight  to  Den- 
ton  County,  Texas. 

By  this  time  Major  Jones  had  positive  evidence  of 
Bass'  headquarters  and  his  operations.  The  Major 
put  some  Rangers  on  the  watch,  not  to  positively  in- 
vade the  town  of  Denton,  but  to  skirt  around  and  find 
out  what  they  could  about  Bass  and  his  men.  But  to 
keep  close  under  cover,  regarding  their  identity  as 
Rangers. 

Captain  June  Peak  was  put  there  as  the  main  work- 
er on  that  job.  I  am  not  positive  as  to  how  it  was 
accomplished,  but  Murphy  had  become  known  as  one 
of  the  Bass  gang  and  was  approached  in  person,  or 
by  letter,  to  see  if  he  could  be  handled,  in  the  capture 
of  the  band.  Major  Jones  was  at  Austin,  conferring 
with  the  Governor,  to  see  if  he  could  offer  Murphy 
immunity,  if  Murphy  would  work  true  in  the  matter. 

The  Governor,  0.  M.  Roberts,  agreed  to  free  Mur- 
phy, if  he  would  keep  positive  faith  with  Major  Jones 
in  capturing  them.  Murphy  agreed  to  all  the  plans 
and  corresponded  with  Major  Jones  as  to  where  their 
next  raid  would  be  made,  when  they  would  all  be  to- 
gether. The  robbers  planned  to  go  to  Round  Rock, 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  147 

Texas,  as  they  had  learned  that  one  of  the  merchants 
at  Round  Rock  had  a  big  lot  of  gold  in  his  safe.  This 
merchant  was  P.  G.  Peters,  who  now  lives  in  New 
Mexico,  and  the  same  old  safe  is  right  here  now,  in 
P.  G.  Peters'  store.  We  have  opened  it  many  a  time 
and  always  thought  of  Sam  Bass. 

The  Major  stayed  at  headquarters  in  Austin  waiting 
to  hear  from  Murphy  again.  The  band  met  and  start- 
ed for  Round  Rock.  When  they  got  to  Belton,  in  Bell 
County,  which  was  about  50  miles  from  Round  Rock, 
Murphy  stepped  into  the  postof fice  and  mailed  a  letter 
to  Major  Jones.  This  came  near  ending  his  life,  as 
Bass  had  seen  him  enter  the  postoffice.  When  they 
went  out  of  Belton,  Bass  put  the  matter  straight  to 
the  band  and  they  would  have  killed  Murphy,  only 
for  the  intervention  of  Jackson,  who  told  them  that 
they  would  have  to  kill  him  first.  Murphy  pleaded 
like  a  lawyer,  stating  that  he  had  only  stepped  into 
the  office  to  mail  a  letter  to  his  people,  as  that  might 
be  the  last  one  he  would  ever  write.  Although  Mur- 
phy pleaded  his  own  case  he  didn't  have  a  "fool  for 
his  client".  That  was  all  that  saved  him.  Murphy 
had  stated  in  that  letter  when  they  would  reach  Round 
Rock.  The  Major  had  called  in  such  Rangers  as  he 
wanted  and  had  them  in  readiness  to  proceed  to  Round 
Rock,  and  upon  receipt  of  Murphy's  letter  took  them 
to  Round  Rock  on  double  quick.  The  Major  ordered 
the  Rangers  to  put  their  horses  in  a  livery  barn  and 
stay  there  with  them.  He  went  to  a  hotel  and  didn't 


148  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

go  about  the  Rangers  much,  but  told  them  to  look  as 
near  like  ' '  hay  seeds ' '  as  they  could,  to  keep  down  sus- 
picion. A  Mr.  Grimes,  who  had  been  a  Ranger,  was 
deputy  sheriff  at  Round  Rock,  and  he  and  Maurice 
Moore,  who  was  deputy  sheriff  in  Travis  County,  had 
found  out  what  was  up,  and  thought  they  would  get  the 
prize,  by  capturing  the  Bass  party  first,  if  they  came 
in.  It  was  not  long  before  Bass  and  his  men  showed 
up  in  Round  Rock.  There  was  Bass,  Underwood, 
Murphy,  Jackson  and  Seba  Barnes,  in  the  band.  They 
tied  their  horses  to  a  hitching  rack  back  of  a  store 
and  walked  into  the  store  and  were  casually  surveying 
things,  as  ranchmen  do,  when  Grimes  and  Moore  en- 
tered the  store  and  Grimes  said  to  Bass  "  I  see  you  have 
a  six  shooter. ' '  Bass  replied,  * '  Yes  sir,  I  have  two  of 
them",  and  jerked  one  out  in  an  instant  and  shot 
Grimes  dead.  Mr.  Moore  came  in  behind  Grimes, 
ready  to  shoot,  but  Bass  was  too  quick  for  him,  and 
shot  him  down,  but  Moore  recovered  from  his  wound, 
after  a  long  and  doubtful  chance.  Moore  was  just  as 
game  as  Bass,  or  any  other  living  man,  but  he  made 
a  mistake.  The  Rangers  heard  the  firing,  from  the 
barn,  and  came  like  shot  off  a  shovel,  and  got  there 
just  as  the  robbers  were  mounting  their  horses.  The 
Rangers  opened  fire  on  them,  and  George  Herald  shot 
Seba  Barnes  through  the  head  just  as  he  was  mounting 
his  horse,  and  Sergeant  ' '  Dick ' '  Ware  shot  Sam  Bass, 
giving  him  a  mortal  wound,  but  Bass  mounted  his 
horse  and  fled,  with  Jackson  and  Underwood,  and 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  149 

Murphy  ran  out  with  them  a  little  distance,  but  dodged 
into  a  lane  and  came  back  into  Round  Rock.  The 
Rangers  got  their  horses  as  quickly  as  it  could  be  done 
and  pursued  them,  but  they  had  reached  the  brush 
and  thickets  and  they  didn't  get  them  that  evening. 
Next  morning  early,  Sergeant  C.  L.  Neville  took  two 
or  three  men  and  was  determined  to  track  them  up.  He 
got  the  trail  outside  of  the  traveled  roads  within  two 
miles,  came  upon  Sam  Bass.  His  horse  was  tied  near 
him.  Bass  was  lying  under  a  tree  and  helpless.  He 
spoke  to  Sergeant  Neville  first,  saying  "I  guess  I  am 
the  man  you  are  looking  for;  I  am  Sam  Bass".  Jack- 
son and  Underwood  had  left  him  there,  knowing  he 
would  die,  but  Bass  told  them  to  go.  Sergeant  Neville 
cared  for  Bass  the  best  he  could  and  got  him  back  to 
Round  Rock,  where  a  doctor  was  gotten  to  attend  him 
and  he  lived  nearly  through  that  night,  making  the 
second  night  after  he  was  shot.  Bass  would  tell  noth- 
ing when  his  inquisitors  would  try  to  find  out  about 
his  men  or  their  doings.  He  said  that ' '  what  he  knew, 
would  die  with  him".  Bass  gave  Sergeant  Neville 
his  compass,  being  the  one  he  traveled  by  from  Nebras- 
ka to  Texas.  Sergeant  Neville  being  a  Company  "  D  " 
man  sent  the  compass  to  me  as  a  present.  George 
Herald,  who  killed  Seba  Barnes,  was  also  a  Company 
"D"  man.  "Dick"  Ware,  who  shot  Bass,  belonged 
to  another  Company,  but  Company  "D"'  couldn't  pro- 
duce a  better  man  than  Ware.  Mr.  Ware  was  after- 
wards U.  S.  Marshal  for  the  Western  District  of  Texas. 


150  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

Underwood  and  Jackson  were  never  heard  of  any 
more  in  the  state  of  Texas.  Murphy  in  a  manner 
surrendered  to  Major  Jones,  and  their  agreement  was 
fulfilled  to  the  letter  and  Murphy  left  for  parts  un- 
known to  any  one  except  Murphy.  As  to  why  Murphy 
did  this  is  only  a  conjecture,  and  conjecture  rests 
upon  this  basis;  that  his  doom  rested  in  a  trembling 
balance.  The  civil  officers  of  the  state,  assisted  by 
the  Bangers,  were  going  to  the  bottom  of  all  crime, 
reaching  many  cases,  that  involved  the  well  being  of 
society,  and  proving  their  strength  to  accomplish  it. 
He  knew  it  was  only  a  matter  of  a  short  time  with 
him.  In  another  sense,  the  great  secret  monitor,  called 
conscience,  might  have  communed  with  his  more  noble 
attributes,  and  told  him  of  the  awful  wrong  he  was 
doing  to  his  brothers  and  sisters  of  this  world.  We 
mentioned  the  Collins  brothers  as  being  connected  with 
the  Bass  gang,  in  this  article.  The  Collins  brothers 
were  cattle  men  and  well  to  do.  Joel  Collins  was 
detected,  in  matters  connected  with  Sam  Bass  and  state 
authorities  informed  of  it.  Joel  Collins  fled  to  Mon- 
cana  and  the  deputy  sheriff  of  Fort  Worth,  in  Tar- 
rant  county,  pursued  him.  He  found  Collins  in  a 
hotel,  and  demanded  his  surrender,  but  Collins  was 
not  that  kind,  to  do  a  subservient  act,  and  the  sheriff 
being  ready  to  compel  him,  had  to  shoot  him.  Collins 
made  a  few  steps,  through  a  side  door,  and  fell.  The 
sheriff  heard  him  strike  the  floor  with  a  heavy  thud 
and  went  to  see  if  he  was  dead.  Collins  although 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  151 

dying,  had  made  a  quick  calculation  that  he  would 
come,  and  had  a  pistol  ready,  and  shot  him.  The 
sheriff  died  first.  The  operations  of  the  Bass  gang 
were  not  known,  at  least,  as  the  Bass  gang,  until  they 
were  located  at  Denton,  Texas.  They  worked  in  dif- 
ferent states  and  many  a  hold-up  and  train  robbery 
committed  by  them  was  charged  to  some  one  else. 
No  confession  was  ever  made  by  any  of  them  and 
they  all  died  fighting.  What  time  Bass  put  in,  from 
Indiana  to  Texas,  or  what  states  he  was  in,  is  un- 
known, but  his  right  name  was  Bass.  We  met  a  genr 
tleman  in  New  Mexico,  that  taught  Sam  Bass  in  school, 
when  he  was  a  small  boy. 

Since  writing  the  above  we  quote  from  Charles  A. 
Seringo's  book,  "A  Cowboy  Detective":  ''There  is 
no  doubt  that  Jim  T.  was  a  hard  case  and  landed 
in  Montana  under  an  assumed  name.  Mrs.  Julia  Lan- 
dusky  gave  me  many  inside  facts  of  Jim  T.  and  his 
actions  when  he  first  landed  in.  the  little  Rockies,  as  a 
slender  young  man.  Now  he  is  a  middle  aged  large 
heavy  man.  Judging  from  the  time  he  came  to  the 
little  Rockies,  and  his  description,  as  given  by  Mrs. 
Landusky,  Mr.  W.  L.  Dickinson  is  confident  Jim  T. 
is  no  other  than  "Dad"  Jackson,  of  the  noted  Sam 
Bass  gang  who  robbed  the  Union  Pacific  train,  near 
Ogalla,  Nebraska  in  the  early  70 's.  Most  of  this  gang 
were  killed  or  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  this  hold- 
up. "Dad"  Jackson  being  the  only  one  that  made 
his  "getaway."  Mr.  Dickinson,  who  was  then  an 
operative  in  the  agency  worked  on  the  case. ' ' 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  153 


Considering  Results 

After  the  frontier  of  Texas  was  practically  freed 
from  Indian  depredations,  there  was  a  turn  of  thought 
in  the  direction  of  building  homes,  and  utilizing  the 
vast  domain  gained  by  that  long  and  sore  struggle, 
which  could  not  be  claimed  by  the  Frontier  battalion, 
except  in  a  sense  of  sustaining  the  ground  work  of 
greater  men,  that  had  left  that  field  in  the  care  of  the 
sons  of  Texas.  The  13th  legislature,  and  succeeding 
legislatures  took  hold  of  the  work  like  patriots  and 
statesmen  and  maintained  the  Battalion  as  zealously 
as  if  they  were  in  the  field  themselves.  Their  hearts 
were  there,  and  willing  hands  were  extended  to  us, 
who  were  in  the  midst  of  the  work.  I  have  often 
thought,  that  the  bonds  of  friendship,  so  closely  woven 
between  the  old  Texans  were  knit  in  the  struggles 
of  war,  where  mutual  help  brought  out  the  brotherhood 
of  man,  and  the  true  love  of  home  and  family  to  an 
extent  that  few  people  realize.  The  lot  of  our  mothers 
were  cast  with  our  fathers,  and  their  sons  and 
daughters,  and  taking  the  whole  family,  made  a  unit 
in  the  aggregate  of  Texas  loyalty.  Loyalty  to  Texas, 
was  semi-loyalty  to  the  new  born  Republic  of  the 
United  States.  The  escutcheon  on  the  breast  of  the 
American  Eagle,  was  their  ideal,  in  the  realm  of  fu- 


154  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

ture  hope.  The  " Monroe  Doctrine"  although  held 
subordinate  to  treaty  stipulation,  and  latent,  under 
the  surface  of  diplomacy  was  the  motor  that  moved 
the  giant  little  machine,  in  Texas.  A  kind  of  wireless 
telegraphy  was  coming  from  our  brothers  in  the  East, 
to  stand  by  our  continental  bulwarks.  Although  we 
were  fighting  our  battles  alone,  there  were  ' '  many  ears 
to  the  ground"  in  the  states,  to  catch  the  glad  sounds 
of  our  success.  Enough  of  the  heroism  of  our  great 
leaders,  have  been  embalmed  in  the  records  of  Texas, 
and  jointly  preserved  in  our  nation,  and  in  that  faith, 
a  succeeding  generation  in  Texas,  have  done  the  best 
they  could  to  impart  the  justice  of  that  faith  to  pos- 
terity. Texas  having  succeeded  in  gaining  a  govern- 
ment at  first  hands,  gave  them  a  spirit  of  independ- 
ence, as  well  as  for  independent  government.  When 
we  were  annexed  to  the  United  States,  we  expected 
protection  to  our  people,  which  was  only  partially 
given,  and  in  truth  amounted  to  little.  Then,  the  in- 
dependent spirit  of  Texas  asserted  itself,  and  brought 
together  the  old  band,  that  once  worshipped  the  single 
star.  We  shouldered  the  burden  of  protection  with 
little  complaint,  but  felt  a  keen  injustice  in  it.  But 
we  were  compelled  to  prevent  wholesale  murder  of  our 
people.  If  any  explanation  was  ever  due  Texas,  as 
to  why  we  didn't  get  protection,  the  same  is  still  due, 
and  with  interest.  Eight  here,  we  will  mention  some 
splendid  individual  effort,  by  officers  in  the  United 
States  service,  on  the  frontier  of  Texas,  in  which  we 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  155 

delight  to  honor  General  McKenzie,  and  Lieutenant 
Bullis,  both  were  fighters,  and  their  daring  deeds  will 
live  with  Texans,  along  with  the  best  service  of  Texas 
Rangers. 

We  will  not  pick  a  quarrel  with  as  big  an  ' '  hombre ' ' 
as  "Uncle  Sam"  but  his  striped  breeches  did  sag  on 
us,  when  we  needed  help.  But  the  heroic  work  of  the 
United  States  Army,  in  subduing  the  Indians  in 
other  states  and  territories  militates  for  their  neglect 
in  Texas.  So  we  are  willing  to  "shake"  with  U.  S. 
Soldiers,  in  any  cause  or  on  any  ground,  within  the 
borders  of  the  United  States.  And  we  are  also  willing 
to  forgive  our  enemies  (the  Indians)  upon  the  ground 
of  their  belief  that  we  were  interlopers  and  claiming 
a  domain  that  belonged  to  them.  According  to  Web- 
ster's definition  of  "Domain,"  it  would  belong  to 
some  one,  or  some  people,  by  right  of  occupancy.  But, 
if  it  was  public  territory,  under  no  established  right 
of  any  people,  who  were  recognized  as  a  government 
by  other  stable  governments,  it  might  have  been  con- 
sidered as  belonging  to  the  Indians,  by  their  occupying 
it.  But,  in  the  case  of  Texas  it  belonged  to  Mexico. 
The  red  man's  claim  was  not  good.  I  would  feel  little, 
if  I  could  not  be  as  magnanimous  as  Magoosh,  the 
old  war  chief,  on  the  Mescalero  Reservation,  who  sends 
me  such  kind  tokens  of  peace,  one  of  which  I  copy, 
sent  me  by  the  sutler  of  that  agency,  Mr.  J.  W.  Prude. 
1 1  Magoosh  says  he  would  like  to  meet  you,  as  a  friend 
and  brother  once  more  before  he  dies;  he  met  you 


156  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

once  in  battle  and  you  was  a  brave  man  and  he  would 
like  to  take  your  hand,  as  a  friend,  since  all  the  world 
is  at  peace,  so  far  as  he  is  concerned.  And  he  really 
means  it.  I  should  like  to  witness  the  novel  meeting 
of  yourself  and  the  old  man,  after  all  these  years, 
when  I  am  so  familiar  with  the  past  history  of  both 
men.  Yours  truly,  J.  W.  Prude." 

Since  Magoosh  has  been  under  control  of  the  U.  S. 
Government  he  has  proven  to  be  loyal  and  we  are 
willing  to  extend  to  him  the  ''olive  branch"  in  the 
hope  of  permanent  peace. 

In  the  fall  of  1882,  active  work  in  the  line  of  pro- 
tection from  Indian  depredations  had  almost  subsided, 
as  they  had  learned  that  there  was  a  "big  mark" 
along  the  states  border,  that  they  must  not  cross. 
The  builders  of  the  Texas  Pacific  railroad  were  busy 
at  work  and  had  reached  the  Colorado  river,  about 
150  miles  west  of  Fort  Worth.  This  road  ran  on  the 
32nd  parallel,  straight  to  El  Paso,  Texas.  The  dis- 
tance was  about  700  miles,  and  passed  across  the 
northern  border  of  the  state,  near  where  the  "Pan- 
handle" strip  of  Texas,  set  in  running  north,  and 
joining  Kansas  and  Colorado.  The  Panhandle  was 
not  settled.  Settlements  had  advanced  to  the  north, 
in  the  state  to  afford  some  protection  to  the  men 
building  the  railroad  and  when  the  road  reached  the 
Colorado  river,  Captain  Marsh,  of  the  Frontier  Bat- 
talion was  ordered  there  with  his  company,  to  protect 
the  railroad  builders.  The  road  was  pushed  through 


BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  157 

to  El  Paso,  and  made  a  sort  of  dead  line  to  marauding 
Indians  coming  from  the  north.  Their  territory  was 
getting  smaller,  being  confined  mostly  to  the  Pan- 
handle of  Texas,  with  Kansas,  New  Mexico  and  Col- 
orado bordering  in.  New  Mexico,  however,  was  shel- 
tering some  of  the  worst  bands  that  infested  Texas. 
Some  of  the  tribes  went  to  Old  Mexico.  The  Yaqui 
Indians  were  on  their  native  heath,  in  the  west  of  Old 
Mexico,  but  have  never  bothered  Texas.  The  two 
strongest  tribes  left  in  America,  were  Apaches,  in 
Arizona,  and  the  Cheyennes  in  Wyoming.  Most  of 
the  weaker  ones  had  sought  refuge  on  reservations, 
in  Arizona,  New  Mexico  and  other  western  states. 
The  service  of  the  Rangers  was  shifted  to  the  border  of 
Mexico.  The  thieving  and  marauding  bands  were 
coming  back  to  Texas,  sheltered  by  Mexico,  but  not 
by  the  Mexican  Government,  as  Mexico  was  having  her 
own  serious  troubles  with  them  on  her  frontier.  The 
United  States  troops,  then  had  to  deal  with  those  pow- 
erful tribes  in  Arizona,  and  Wyoming,  in  which  we 
lost  General  Ouster,  General  Canby  and  many  other 
brave  men.  The  United  States  troops  finally  killed 
old  Sitting  Bull,  the  leader  of  the  Cheyenne  tribe, 
and  old  Geronimo,  leader  of  the  Apaches  was  cap- 
tured and  kept  under  surveillance,  until  he  died  about 
two  years  ago.  Thus  we  see  the  approaching  end  of 
Cooper's  "Noble  Red  Man."  After  the  several  tribes 
had  been  brought  in,  on  reservations,  the  policy  of 
the  Indian  management  was  to  educate  the  Indian 


158  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

children,  and  they  put  many  of  them  in  schools  far 
removed  from  their  tribes.  We  think  this  was  a  mis- 
take, in  so  far  as  removing  them  from  their  parents 
to  educate  them.  It  was  breaking  up  the  natural  ties 
of  family  and  home,  and  causing  sorrow  that  their 
new  condition  was  not  ready  for.  The  child  pined 
for  its  mother  and  father,  and  family  and  the  parents 
loved  their  children  as  dearly  as  the  most  civilized 
white  people.  The  children's  most  absorbing  thought 
was  to  return  to  their  ties  of  blood  and  kindred,  which 
they  did  after  a  mechanical  training  which  amounted 
to  nothing  more.  They  went  back  to  the  blanket,  in 
the  tepee,  to  enjoy  God's  gift  of  love,  in  human  af- 
fection. They  could  not  hope  to  reach  the  realm  of 
white  society,  at  a  cost  of  all  that  is  dear  to  human 
beings.  Whereas,  if  they  had  been  schooled  on  their 
reservations,  where  the  parents  could  have  been  in 
touch  and  interest  with  the  movement,  the  parents 
would  have  absorbed  a  great  part  of  the  education 
themselves.  Our  own  people  were  unanimous  in  a 
hope  to  civilize  them,  but  that  matter  was  turned  over 
to  Eastern  people,  whose  actual  knowledge  of  the  In- 
dian was  gained  by  dime  novel  sentiment.  It  was  not 
an  actual  knowledge.  A  board  of  United  States  Army 
officers  would  have  been  more  competent  to  deal  with 
the  matter  from  positive  knowledge  and  contact  with 
Indian  character,  but  the  military  being  subordinate 
to  civil  authority  disqualified  them.  Placing  the  In- 
dians on  reservations,  simply  to  draw  rations  and  an- 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  159 

nuities,  made  indigent  sluggards  of  them,  and  they 
took  it  as  a  sort  of  peace  offering,  to  be  good.  The 
strong  arm  of  the  government  was  a  little  too  passive, 
in  not  teaching  them  to  earn  a  living.  However,  we 
recall  the  action  of  Lieutenant  Stotler,  who  was  Indian 
agent  on  the  Mescalero  reservation,  in  Otero  County, 
New  Mexico.  Whether  this  action  was  upon  his  own  in- 
itiative, or  advised  by  the  management,  I  do  not  know. 
He  first  rounded  them  up,  and  had  their  long  hair 
cut,  put  hats  on  them,  gave  them  wagons  and  teams, 
and  farming  implements,  helped  them  to  pick  out 
good  spots  of  land  that  could  be  irrigated,  and  had 
a  farmer  to  show  them  how  to  sow  wheat,  plant  corn, 
or  any  crops  they  wished  to  raise.  In  the  fall  fol- 
lowing their  first  effort,  you  could  see  "Mr.  Injun" 
driving  his  team  around  through  the  country  with 
grain  to  sell.  Lieutenant  Stotler  conceived  the  idea 
of  putting  them  up  a  saw  mill,  as  they  have  plenty  of 
fine  timber  on  their  reservations,  and  the  lumber 
could  be  used  by  the  govevrnment  in  building  and  re- 
pairing buildings  on  the  agency.  The  Indians  got  pay 
for  this  work;  just  imagine  a  "buck  Indian"  cutting 
and  hauling  saw  logs  and  working  around  the  mill. 
Axle  grease  was  substituted  for  his  war  paint,  and  his 
hatchet  had  grown  to  be  a  chopping  axe.  They  have 
some  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep,  and  they  all  use  one 
brand  for  their  stock  which  is  a  bow  and  arrow  sym- 
bolizing their  primitive  means  of  killing  game.  They 
still  have  game  on  their  reservation.  The  White 


160  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

Mountain  (Sierra  Blanco)  is  on  their  reservation, 
and  the  distance  around  its  base  is  about  50  miles, 
and  well  covered  with  timber,  up  to  timber  line.  The 
New  York  World  almanac  gives  the  altitude  of  the 
White  Mountain  14,145  feet  above  sea  level,  being 
about  100  feet  higher  than  Pike's  Peak.  The  citizens 
adjacent  to  the  reservation  get  along  nicely  with  the 
Indians.  We  received  a  letter  a  few  days  ago  from 
their  old  war  chief  in  which  he  stated  that  he  wished 
to  see  us,  and  shake  our  hands  cordially,  adding  that 
he  was  once  wild  and  mean,  but  is  so  no  more.  We 
answered  him,  that  we  would  like  to  see  him  and 
"shake"  before  we  passed  to  the  "happy  hunting 
ground. " 

In  rounding  up  our  service,  through  a  period  of 
nearly  seven  years,  we  lost  only  one  man  killed  in 
action.  Several  of  our  men  had  their  hats  and  clothes 
punctured  with  bullets,  and  some  horses  killed  and 
wounded.  Our  manner  of  fighting  was  quick  work, 
at  close  range ;  only  a  few  minutes  was  decisive.  The 
enemy  had  no  time  to  look  for  advantage,  and  once 
they  broke  their  line  for  retreat,  they  could  never 
rally  under  constant  fire.  We  suffered  most  in  the 
Deer  Creek  fight,  which  is  mentioned  in  one  of  the 
first  chapters  of  this  writing,  but  that  fight  just  pre- 
ceded our  service  in  the  Frontier  Battalion. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  161 


Fence  Cutters 

After  we  had  helped  to  make  investments  safe  in 
Texas  we  found  that  the  man  with  capital  was  watch- 
ing our  progress,  and  didn  't  fail  to  * '  cinch ' '  what  we 
had  fought  for,  in  buying  and  leasing  great  bodies 
of  land,  to  run  cattle  on.  This  land  was  fenced  with 
barbed  wire.  Many  men  on  the  frontier,  who  thought 
they  were  helping  to  conserve  a  public  interest,  in 
the  public  domain  of  Texas,  began  to  see  that  capital 
had  shut  out  all  small  interests,  and  the  door  of  op- 
portunity was  closed.  It  was  not  generally  Texas  cap- 
ital that  did  this,  but  the  state  was  lax  in  not  pro- 
tecting its  own  sovereignty.  Nearly  all  frontiersmen 
were  poor  in  purse,  having  been  depleted  by  a  series 
of  robbery  by  Indians  and  outlaws.  The  frontiers- 
men resented  fencing  them  out,  but  they  did  it  in  a 
way  that  made  criminals  of  them,  under  the  law. 
They  commenced  to  cut  those  fences,  regardless  of  law, 
but  were  not  a  match  to  the  situation.  Consequently, 
they  were  "down  and  out."  They  had  to  hunt  new 
territory  to  make  a  start.  Texas  was  liberal  to  capital, 
but  all  her  people  didn't  share  her  liberality,  in  a 
measure  that  they  had  earned.  We  do  not  mean  to 
controvert  a  former  statement  in  this  writing,  that 
Texas  was  liberal  in  giving  people  homes,  but  a  home 


162  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

on  the  frontier,  that  didn't  combine  stock  raising  was 
a  poor  home.  Her  endowment  of  public  land,  to 
schools  and  universities,  also  her  asylums  and  other 
institutions,  was  simply  grand.  But  the  people  on  the 
frontier  were  very  remote  from  those  blessings,  not- 
withstanding they  occupied  the  ground  included  in 
those  magnanimous  donations.  They  all  felt  a  pride 
in  this,  but,  to  give  capital,  which  was  cold-blooded 
advantage  against  them,  the  rope  and  noose  to  stran- 
gle them  with,  was  very  apparent  to  even  a  frontiers- 
man. The  little  neglected  citizenship  on  the  frontier 
was  too  insignificant  to  be  heard  in  legislation,  and 
in  consequence  they  had  to  take  what  followed ;  equal 
opportunity  was  the  boon  they  asked.  Did  they  get 
it?  No,  they  got  epithets  piled  high  on  them,  as  law 
breakers,  and  undesirable  citizens,  and  had  to  subside, 
as  felons.  It  was  not  only  the  fence  cutters,  but  all 
the  small  stock  owners,  that  received  the  cold  warning 
to  "keep  off  the  grass."  Texas  could  make  no  dis- 
tinction in  the  rights  of  her  citizens,  by  law,  and 
failed  to  see  that  natural  rights  were  involved.  Con- 
sequently, men  from  other  states  were  watching  our 
fight,  with  about  as  much  interest  in  it,  as  they  would 
have  in  a  "Kilkenny  cat  fight"  until  our  affairs 
were  adjusted  to  warrant  investment.  "Sam"  Hous- 
ton, and  his  compatriots,  left  a  legacy  in  land  to  Texas, 
that  made  her  as  rich  as  Croesus,  but  could  not  live 
long  enough  to  conserve  it.  However,  the  Republic 
of  Texas  began  right,  in  granting  what  they  called 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  163 

a  headright,  giving  to  the  head  of  a  family  a  certain 
amount  of  land,  as  a  recognition  of  their  services  in 
fighting  for  it.  In  1874,  the  land  on  the  Texas  frontier 
covered  about  the  same  area,  that  well-settled  portion 
of  the  State  covered,  if  not  more,  including  the  Pan- 
handle strip,  and  from  San  Antonio  to  the  Rio  Grande, 
and  up  and  down  that  river,  for  nearly  a  thousand 
miles.  That  frontier  territory  has  proven  that  it  was 
worth  as  much  to  Texas  as  her  cotton  farms..  It  has 
stocked  nearly  every  state,  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River  to  California,  with  cattle.  It  built  Texas  a 
capitol  building  that  cost  six  million  dollars.  It  sub- 
sidized the  M.  K.  &  T.  railroad,  in  a  vast  donation, 
also  other  railroads.  It  built  up  other  Texas  institu- 
tions, to  perfect  grandeur,  and  Texas  has  reserved 
land  enough  for  schools,  to  give  her  the  largest  school 
fund  of  any  state  in  the  Union,  based  upon  popula- 
tion, of  scholastic  age.  But,  the  poor  fellows  that  made 
the  land  available  only  got  a  little  mock  turtle  soup. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  165 


Horrel  War 


We  denominate  this  a  "war"  because  the  Horrels 
were  the  principal  actors  in  what  was  called  the  Lin- 
coln County  War  in  New  Mexico. 

In  1867,  when  Texas  was  trying  to  rebuild  her  torn- 
up  government  under  a  guard  of  United  States 
soldiers,  Edmund  J.  Davis  was  elected  governor  of 
Texas.  Governor  Davis  commanded  a  regiment  in  the 
Union  army,  although  a  Texan,  and  his  regiment  was 
composed  of  Texans.  While  reconstruction  was  going 
on,  Governor  Davis  put  out  a  State  Police  to  keep 
down  disorders  until  civil  government  could  be  es- 
tablished. He  appointed  Capt.  Tom.  Williams  as  cap- 
tain of  police.  Captain  Williams  served  with  Gov- 
ernor Davis  in  the  Union  Army. 

The  Horrels  lived  in  Lampasas  county,  Texas,  there 
being  three  or  four  brothers  of  them,  and  all  being 
old  settlers  there  they  had  many  friends.  I  do  not 
believe  they  had  "smelled  much  blood"  in  real  con- 
flict— not  at  least  to  the  extent  which  makes  opposing 
forces  friends  in  mutual  admiration  of  courage.  They 
were  very  zealous  in  keeping  up  strife  over  the  *  *  dead 
war"  issues  and  caused  much  trouble  in  Lampasas 
county.  Captain  Williams  was  dispatched  to  Lam- 
pasas to  quell  the  disturbances.  The  Horrels  were 


166  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

defiant  and  considered  Captain  Williams  an  intruder 
into  their  dominion  and  openly  murdered  him.  This 
put  the  United  States  soldiers  after  them. 

They  dodged  from  place  to  place  until  it  got  too 
warm  for  them,  when  they  left  for  New  Mexico.  They 
came  to  where  the  city  of  Roswell  is  now  located,  and 
there  being  no  law  in  the  territory  then,  except  mil- 
itary, and  that  ' '  only  in  spots, ' '  they  had  a  clear  field 
to  work  in. 

In  1868  some  big  cattle  ranches  were  being  estab- 
lished in  the  country,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  that 
year  John  Chisum  started  his  big  ranch  on  South 
Spring  river,  four  miles  south  of  Roswell.  Soon  after 
that,  " Billy  the  Kid"  started  a  little  war  of  his  own 
up  in  Lincoln  County;  and  the  details  of  that  being 
too  tedious  to  write,  it  need  only  be  said  that  murder 
and  robbery  were  its  leading  features.  Mr.  Chisum 
found  that  "fighting  men"  were  in  demand  to  protect 
his  cattle;  and  the  Kid  bunch  and  the  Horrels  being 
the  strongest  and  they  together  having  absorbed  about 
all  the  fighting  characters  in  the  country,  he  had  to 
use  some  fine  diplomacy  in  securing  one  or  the  other, 
or  both,  to  help  him  out.  I  have  been  told  that  fighting 
wages  didn't  satisfy  them  and  that  they  appropriated 
Mr.  Chisum 's  cattle  very  freely  to  make  up  the  de- 
ficit. 

The  Horrels  were  not  common  thieves,  but  neces- 
sity had  driven  them  to  do  things  of  a  lawless  char- 
acter that  made  outlaws  of  them.  They  became  very 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  167 

desperate  men.  They  killed  several  Mexican  citizens 
in  Lincoln  County. 

After  their  several  years  stay  in  New  Mexico,  De- 
mocracy had  been  restored  to  voting  power  in  Texas 
and  Richard  Coke  was  elected  governor ;  and  the  Hor- 
rels  made  the  mistake  of  going  back  to  Lampasas 
County,  Texas.  A  Democratic  administration  had  to 
deal  out  justice  to  them  for  the  murder  of  Captain 
Williams  and  some  other  men.  In  the  meantime,  the 
Ranger  force  had  been  put  into  the  field  by  Governor 
Coke  and  political  sympathy  didn't  figure  with  them. 
The  civil  officers  were  still  unable  to  cope  with  the 
situation  there  and  the  Rangers  were  called  on  for 
help.  Major  Jones  went  in  person  and  took  my  old 
duty  sergeant  N.  0.  Reynolds,  with  him,  in  command 
of  the  squad.  I  loved  Major  Jones,  but  he  played  an 
Irish  trick  on  me  when  he  took  Reynolds  from  me. 
But  I  was  compensated  later  on  when  the  Major  se- 
cured a  Captain's  commission  for  Reynolds. 

The  Horrels  were  known  to  be  in  Lampasas  County, 
but  they  were  kept  posted  as  to  the  movements  of  the 
Rangers.  On  the  other  hand,  the  good  citizens  were 
trying  just  as  hard  to  locate  them  for  the  Rangers. 
In  a  neighborhood  some  eight  or  ten  miles  south  of 
the  town  of  Lampasas  the  people  got  positive  informa- 
tion that  the  Horrels  were  fifteen  or  twenty  miles 
southeast  of  the  town,  on  the  Lampasas  River.  Now, 
to  get  this  information  to  Major  Jones  might  appear 
to  be  a  small  matter,  but  the  Horrels  had  spies  on 


168  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

every  road  leading  in  their  direction.  There  was  a 
young  fellow  from  the  east,  the  veriest  tenderfoot,  vis- 
iting in  that  neighborhood.  He  told  them  that  he 
would  deliver  that  message  to  Major  Jones.  They 
saw  that  he  had  the  backbone  to  try  it  and  they  let 
him  go  with  it. 

That  young  man  was  J.  M.  Hawkins,  who  is  now 
postmaster  in  Alamogorda,  New  Mexico. 

Sure  enough,  their  spies  rounded  him  up  on  the 
road;  but  I  imagine  Hawkins  tried  to  appear  greener 
than  he  really  was,  playing  the  "baby  act"  success- 
fully, and  went  on  his  way  rejoicing.  He  delivered 
the  message  to  Major  Jones.  This  located  the  Hor- 
rels  and  no  time  was  lost  in  starting  the  Rangers 
after  them.  It  was  on  a  rainy  evening  and  the  Horrels 
had  sought  shelter  in  a  vacant  house  near  the  river. 
Some  of  the  most  bitter  enemies  of  the  Horrels  wanted 
to  go  with  Sergeant  Reynolds  and  assist  in  capturing 
them,  but  Reynold's  declined  their  help  except  to  take 
one  man  with  him  to  show  him  the  house  they  were 
in.  When  he  got  near  this  house  he  told  his  man  to 
go  back  as  he  needed  no  further  assistance.  Reynolds 
advanced  cautiously,  in  the  night,  and  encountered  no 
guard  or  watchman  in  his  approach.  The  Horrels 
were  all  asleep  in  the  house.  Reynolds  placed  his 
men  around  the  house  with  orders  not  to  shoot  until 
he  ordered  them  to  do  so.  He  opened  the  front  door 
and  walked  into  the  house  alone.  He  lighted  a  match 
and  saw  the  situation  in  the  front  room  and  had  to 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  169 

act  at  a  flash,  as  Tom  Horrel  was  sleeping  in  that 
room  with  his  rifle  on  the  bed  with  him.  He  saw 
Reynolds  by  the  light  of  the  match,  and  Reynolds  saw 
his  gun,  both  men  grabbed  the  gun  at  the  same  time. 
The  Horrels  were  big,  powerful  men,  while  Reynolds 
was  no  less  powerful,  although  he  didn't  look  it.  In 
the  scuffle  over  the  gun,  the  weapon  was  discharged. 
The  men  in  front  pushed  into  the  house  and  in  that 
crucial  moment  Reynolds  told  them  not  to  shoot — that 
the  discharge  of  the  gun  was  an  accident.  Reynolds 
wrenched  the  gun  out  of  Horrel's  hands  and  told  him 
they  were  the  Rangers.  The  men  in  the  other  room 
had  made  no  demonstrations  so  far,  knowing  that  if 
they  ran  out  they  would  meet  bullets.  Reynolds 
talked  Tom  Horrell  into  calmness  and  told  him  to  go 
into  the  other  rooms  and  tell  his  men  to  come  out  and 
surrender  and  he  would  see  that  they  were  not  mobbed. 
Horrel  had  struck  the  one  man  in  his  life  that  was  the 
finest  of  steel,  and  he  appeared  to  like  Reynolds  from 
that  moment.  Tom  went  in  and  told  them  and  vouched 
for  it  himself  that  they  would  not  be  mobbed.  They 
all  came  out  and  surrendered  to  the  Rangers.  They 
were  taken  up  to  the  town  of  Lampasas  and  no  con- 
siderable crowd  of  men  were  allowed  to  come  near 
them.  Major  Jones,  conferring  with  the  civil  author- 
ities, knew  it  would  not  do  to  put  them  in  the  Lam- 
pasas jail,  and  they  were  sent  to  a  jail  some  100  miles 
north  of  there,  thinking  they  would  escape  mob  vio- 
lence. When  Reynolds  parted  with  them  at  the 


170  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

jail  the  Horrels  shed  tears  and  told  him  they  never 
expected  to  see  him  again. 

The  Rangers  were  kept  at  Lampasas  awhile,  and  as 
long  as  they  were  there  the  Horrels  were  pretty  safe, 
notwithstanding  they  were  some  distance  away. 

As  soon,  however,  as  they  were  taken  from  Lampasas 
a  mob  was  organized  which  was  sufficiently  strong 
to  go  to  the  jail  where  the  Horrels  were  incarcerated. 
They  overpowered  the  sheriff,  entered  the  jail  and  shot 
the  Horrels  to  death. 

The  ugly  crime  was  never  righted  by  law. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  171 

(EXTRACT) 
(The  Austin,  Texas,  Daily  Statesman.  Tuesday,  October  5th,  1897) 

The  Old  Texas  Rangers. 


Their    First    Annual    Reunion    Held    Here   Yes- 
terday a  Most  Happy  One. 

o 

VETERAN  INDIAN  FIGHTERS 
PRESENT. 


The    Abundance    of    Good    Cheer    at    Zoo    Park    and    Timely 

Address — Music  by  the  Blind  Pupils — 

Next  Meeting  at  Dallas. 

0 

The  Texas  Ranger  Association  met  in  this  city  yes- 
terday in  their  first  annual  reunion  and  were  called 
to  order  in  Board  of  Trade  hall  by  President  Joe  G. 
Booth. 

Secretary  Will  Lambert  called  the  roll  and  eighty 
of  the  old  vets  responded,  and  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
who  were  not  in  the  hall  swelled  the  actual  attend- 
ance to  about  100,  a  much  larger  number  than  was 
expected,  owing  to  the  yellow  fever  scare  and  the  wild 
and  wooly  quarantines. 

Mayor  Hancock  was  present,  and  in  a  neat  and  ap- 


172  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

propriate  speech  welcomed  the  old  rangers  and  ex- 
tended to  them  the  freedom  of  the  city. 

On  motion  of  Secretary  Lambert  the  following  me- 
morial committee  was  appointed  to  draw  up  suitable 
resolutions  on  the  death  of  members  who  have  passed 
away  since  the  organization  in  June  last:  Col.  Will 
Lambert,  M.  M.  Kinney  and  L.  L.  McGehee. 

On  motion  the  following  committee  was  appointed 
on  constitution  and  by-laws:  Capt.  M.  M.  Kinney, 
W.  G.  Lee  and  Cass  Calahan. 

The  committee  retired  and  reported  back  the  con- 
stitution and  by-laws  drawn  up  some  time  back,  with- 
out change,  and  they  were  adopted. 

Mrs.  D.  W.  Roberts,  wife  of  Capt.  D.  W.  Roberts, 
was  present  and  invited  to  a  seat  on  the  stand,  where 
President  Booth  formally  introduced  her  to  the  con- 
vention. 

Mrs.  Roberts  is  a  lady  of  culture  and  refinement, 
and  for  three  years  she  was  in  camp  with  Capt.  Rob- 
erts and  his  company  on  the  extreme  frontier  suffer- 
ing the  hardships  of  a  frontier  life  and  braving  the 
dangers  of  Indian  warfare.  Her  womanly  graces  and 
indomitable  courage  was  the  admiration  of  the  en- 
tire force  of  Rangers,  and  Company  D,  commanded 
by  her  husband,  idolized  her. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  173 


INTERESTING  LETTERS 

The  following  letter  from  Capt.  Roberts,  who  now 
resides  at  Nogal,  New  Mexico,  was  read: 

To  My  Old  Comrades  of  Company  D,  Frontier  Bat- 
talion, Texas  Rangers: 

Words  fail  to  express  my  regret  and  intense  dis- 
appointment at  not  being  able  to  be  with  you  at  this, 
our  first  reunion. 

Although  I  am  denied  the  great  privilege  of  seeing 
you,  face  to  face,  and  grasping  your  hands,  be  as- 
sured, my  beloved  comrades,  that  I  am  with  you  in 
spirit,  and  that  my  heart  is  in  this  noble  work — that 
of  perpetuating  the  name  and  fame  of  the  Texas 
Rangers,  not  only  to  keep  it  fresh  in  our  memories, 
but  that  our  posterity  may  fully  know  and  appreciate 
the  service  rendered  by  our  gallant  men  to  the  state, 
whereby  we  helped  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  civiliza- 
tion which  they  will  enjoy,  but  may  fail  to  recognize. 

Circumstances  have  separated  us  from  each  other. 
I  have  drifted  from  my  loved  old  state ;  but  time  and 
space  cannot  efface  from  my  memory  or  eradicate 
from  my  affection  those  comrades  with  whom  I  have 
stood  side  by  side,  in  sunshine  and  in  shade,  in  con- 
flict and  in  times  of  quiet  repose,  during  so  many  of 
the  best  years  of  our  lives. 


174  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

Some  reminiscences  of  a  Ranger  camp  are  among 
the  most  pleasant  remembrances  of  my  life.  How  viv- 
idly I  recall  the  scenes  around  the  campfire,  and  the 
stirring  incidents  that  go  to  make  up  camp  life.  For 
instance : 

The  report  that  there  were  fifteen  Indians  seen  on 
the  divide  between  Menard  and  Kimble  counties.  The 
excitement  was  intense  and  the  men  detailed  on  that 
scout  were  highly  elated,  each  expecting  to  return 
bearing  trophies  fastened  to  his  belt.  Alas!  After 
hours  of  hard  riding  they  came  in  with  the  sad  news 
that  they  had  trailed  a  herd  of  mustangs.  Such  dis- 
appointments were  very  common. 

Doubtless  you  will  readily  recall  our  first  engage- 
ment with  the  Indians  when  we  were  camped  below 
Menardville.  How  eager  you  were  to  attack  them, 
and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  you  were  restrained 
until  the  proper  time  to  fire.  Some  of  us  had  a  close 
call;  a  bullet  passed  through  Jim  Hawkin's  hat,  my 
horse  wounded  in  the  shoulder;  some  horses  killed ;  but, 
withal,  we  came  out  without  a  scratch.  This  defeat 
seem  to  satisfy  the  Indians,  for  they  sought  pastures 
new,  and  never  returned  to  that  part  of  the  country, 
having  left  behind  them  several  of  their  dead. 

One  of  the  Indian  chiefs  who  was  in  command  in  a 
subsequent  fight  in  which  we  captured  the  Mexican 
boy,  is  now  living  on  the  Mescalero  Indian  Reservation, 
within  twenty-five  miles  of  my  home.  His  name  is 
Magoosh.  We  have  buried  the  hatchet,  but  are  not 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  175 

neighborly,  and  in  passing  through  the  reservation  I 
always  keep  a  sharp  lookout  for  Magoosh. 

Were  we  together  we  could  recall  incident  after  in- 
cident, and  live,  as  it  were,  the  old  Ranger  life  over 
again.  It  is  with  mingled  feelings  of  pride  and  pleas- 
ure that  I  recall  the  implicit  confidence  I  had  in  the 
steadfast  courage  of  each  of  my  men,  knowing,  as  I  did, 
that  where  I  led  they  would  surely  follow. 

While  you  are  rejoicing  in  this  reunion  it  is  sad  to 
note  the  missing  faces — those  we  never  hope  to  see 
again ;  but  you  will  not  forget  to  honor  their  memory. 
One  among  these,  much  beloved  by  us  all,  was  Adjutant 
General  John  B.  Jones,  "our  major/'  who  was  with  us 
from  the  beginning  and  continued  in  the  service  until 
called  from  earth  by  the  dread  destroyer,  death.  A 
grand  man !  A  patriotic  soldier !  A  daring  and  chiv- 
alrous officer!  A  generous  and  sympathetic  friend! 
All  the  attributes  of  a  noble  and  true  manhood  were 
combined  in  Gen.  John  B.  Jones. 

While  I  have  not  been  permitted  to  shake  hands 
with  you  at  this  reunion  I  still  look  forward  to  the 
happy  time  when  I  shall  be  in  the  midst  of  the  merry- 
making. Dear  comrades,  we  are  Rangers  no  more  ex- 
cept in  spirit,  but  in  our  various  callings  let  our  in- 
fluence be  felt  for  truth,  patriotism  and  good  citizen- 
ship, exhibiting  the  same  enthusiasm  and  zeal  that 
we  have  ever  shown  as  soldiers.  Let  our  purpose  be  to 
act  well  our  part  on  the  stage  of  life,  so  that  when  the 
last  roll  is  called,  and  we  receive  our  final  furlough 


176  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

we  may  leave  a  good  record  to  posterity  and  an  un- 
tarnished name  to  the  Texas  Rangers. 
Yours  truly, 

D.  W.  ROBERTS. 

The  following  letter  from  Gen.  W.  H.  King  was  also 
read: 

Sulphur  Springs,  Texas,  Oct.  1,  1897. 
JOE  G.  BOOTH,  ESQ., 

Austin,  Texas. 

My  dear  sir:  It  is  with  regret  that  I  acknowledge 
my  inability  to  be  present  at  the  "reunion  of  the  old 
Rangers"  in  Austin  on  the  4th  inst.,  a  courteous  in- 
vitation to  wtiich,  from  your  hands,  has  just  reached 
me  by  telegram.  My  official  and  personal  connection 
and  intercourse  with  the  rangers  for  nearly  ten  years 
served  to  enlighten  me  remarkably  as  to  the  wonderful 
value  of  this  service  to  Texas,  and  as  to  the  high  char- 
acter and  unusual  combination  of  good  qualities 
found  in  the  gallant  men  who  compose  this  organiza- 
tion. They  have  been  for  many  years  the  safest  and 
surest,  and  in  some  cases  the  only  supporters  of  law 
and  order  to  be  found  in  some  sections  of  our  widely 
extended  borders — the  forerunners  of  civilization,  the 
harbingers  of  peace  and  safety  to  life  and  property. 
No  man  can  measure  the  real  value  of  the  services 
rendered  this  state  by  the  splendid,  gallant  and  pa- 
triotic body  of  men  known  as  ' '  Texas  Rangers, ' '  their 
history  and  efforts  covering  a  period  of  more  than 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  177 

sixty  years,  going  back  into  the  trying  times  when 
Texas  stood  alone  and  faced  her  Mexican  foes  from 
the  Rio  Grande  and  her  savage  ones  inside  and  out; 
coming  down  to  our  own  day  and  time  with  a  record 
for  energy,  ability,  untiring  activity,  high  courage, 
devotion  to  duty — always  on  the  side  of  law  and  order, 
and  individually  and  collectively  of  exceptionally  up- 
right and  honorable  character  and  conduct.  I  am 
proud  of  my  four  years'  service  as  a  Confederate 
soldier,  and  I  am  equally  proud  of  my  connection  with 
the  Texas  Rangers.  I  take  off  my  hat  to  them,  and 
feel  highly  honored  in  having  been  with  them  so  long, 
and  so  pleasantly,  and  in  possessing  their  esteem,  as 
they  do  mine. 

Again  regretting  that  adverse  circumstances  forbid 
my  attendance  on  your  coming  reunion,  and  wishing 
you  all  a  joyous  and  profitable  meeting,  and  many 
happy  returns,  and  for  each  of  you  personally  my 
warmest  regards,  I  am,  sincerely  yours, 

W.  H.  KING. 

A  motion  was  made  and  carried  that  the  letters  be 
spread  on  the  minutes  of  the  association  and  that  the 
Austin  Statesman,  San  Antonio  Express,  Galveston 
News,  Houston  Post  and  Dallas  News  be -requested  to 
publish  the  same. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  179 


Adios  Rangers 

In  the  fall  of  1882,  we  found  ourselves  becoming 
inactive,  as  our  primary  work  abated,  in  a  sense  that 
was  gratifying  to  our  past  effort,  in  the  frontier  ser- 
vice. The  Indian  question  had  principally  been  set- 
tled in  Texas,  and  the  burden  rested  in  other  states 
and  territories.  The  Ranger  force  was  being  reduced 
by  the  state,  and  it  appeared  to  us  that  we  were  only 
looking  after  "odds  and  ends."  Consequently  I  ten- 
dered my  resignation  as  captain  of  Company  "D" 
Frontier  Battalion  to  our  Adjutant  General,  W.  H. 
King.  Adjutant  General  King  feeling  very  friendly 
to  me,  in  answer,  asked  me  to  take  command  of  a  com- 
pany of  Rangers,  at  Fort  Davis,  which  would  have 
been  following  our  common  enemy,  to  the  border  of 
Mexico.  But,  Company  "D"  was  our  idol,  and  the 
health  of  my  wife  demanded  my  most  serious  attention. 
General  King  accepted  my  resignation.  General  King 
was  a  tried  and  true  soldier,  and  a  man  of  rare  ability. 
We  parted  from  him  reluctantly,  as  we  did  from  our 
old  company ;  and  to  the  survivors  of  my  old  company, 
we  offer  a  farewell  to  last  to  the  shores  of  eternity. 

Since  my  "goodbye"  to  the  Rangers  I  will  try  to 
tell  something  about  the  great  state  that  some  of  them 
still  live  in. 


180  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

Texas  is  more  diversified,  in  climate  and  soils  than 
probably  any  other  State  in  the  Union  of  States. 
Mainly  on  account  of  her  various  altitudes,  from  the 
Gulf,  to  a  point  opposite  the  Rocky  Mountains  in 
Colorado. 

The  physical  geography  of  the  state  connects  a 
western  arid  belt  with  a  semi-humid  belt,  lying  or  be- 
ing below  the  32nd  parallel  and  all  north  of  that  is 
arid  land.  The  Texas  Pacific  Railroad  runs  east  and 
west,  on  the  32nd  parallel.  Those  zones  run  north  and 
south,  and  connect  near  the  middle  of  the  state,  their 
blending  is  almost  as  fine  as  the  colors  of  the  rainbow. 

We  will  draw  an  imaginary  line  north  and  south 
from  Big  Springs  on  the  Texas  Pacific  Railroad  run- 
ning south,  say  30  miles  west  of  Austin,  and  crossing 
the  Guadalupe  River  just  below  Seguin,  and  running 
straight  to  Goliad,  on  the  San  Antonio  River,  thence 
by  Beeville  and  to  Corpus  Christi.  This  line  crosses 
all  the  rivers  mentioned  diagonally. 

We  will  cross-section  the  eastern  division,  by  giving 
the  character  of  land,  and  its  products,  only  giving 
staple  products  as  a  basis. 

We  will  draw  a  line  from  Big  Springs  south  to  Fort 
Mason,  in  Mason  County,  a  distance  of  nearly  two 
hundred  miles,  thence  east  via  Lampasas  Springs  to 
Waco,  on  the  Brazos  River,  thence  east  by  Fairfield 
to  Pine  Bluff,  on  the  Trinity  River.  Thence  north  to 
the  thirty-second  parallel  east  of  Dallas.  We  will 
have  to  take  in  six  or  seven  counties  lying  north  of 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  181 

Dallas  and  Fort  Worth,  as  the  best  wheat,  corn  and 
oats  counties  in  the  State.  The  block  we  have  lined 
in  produces  fine  cotton,  corn,  wheat,  and  oats.  Com- 
mencing again  at  Pine  Bluff,  on  the  Trinity  River, 
and  running  east  to  the  Sabine  River,  joining  Louisi- 
ana, and  north  to  the  Indian  Territory,  we  have  a 
timbered  section,  which  give  us  lumber  in  the  west. 
This  section  is  generally  denominated  Eastern  Texas. 

We  will  now  take  another  block  from  the  town  of 
Mason  south  to  Seguin  on  the  Guadalupe  river,  thence 
east  to  the  city  of  Houston  and  still  east  to  Orange 
on  the  Sabine  River,  with  slight  variance  in  crop 
production,  only  a  gain  in  cotton,  with  oat  crop  lighter 
on  account  of  rust  in  the  oats. 

Now  we  come  to  the  coast  block,  from  Corpus 
Christi,  east  to  Port  Arthur,  taking  in  all  the  zigzags 
of  peninsulas,  bays  and  inlets  on  the  Texas  coasts, 
embracing  the  cities  of  Galveston,  Houston,  and 
smaller  coast  towns. 

We  will  now  take  up  five  counties  near  the  middle 
of  the  coast  block,  namely,  Colorado,  Wharton,  Mata- 
gorda,  Fort  Bend,  and  Harris,  as  producers  of  rice, 
sugar,  corn,  cotton,  and  nearly  all  crops  desired.  This 
block  of  counties  embrace  the  famous  "Old  Caney" 
lands,  which  are  noted  for  sugar  cane,  (ribbon  cane) 
and  you  have  to  almost  climb  the  cotton  stalks  to  pick 
the  cotton;  and  the  truth  is  big  enough  without  ex- 
aggeration. Taking  east  and  west  of  this  block  the 
land  is  generally  good,  and  produces  finely. 


182  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

We  are  not  boosting  for  Texas,  and  more,  we  do  not 
believe  in  that  method  of  deception,  that  lures  people 
to  the  "promised  land"  to  find  themselves  victims 
of  graft.  Texas  has  its  "draw-backs"  just  the  same 
as  any  other  state,  which  are  drouths,  and  late  frosts 
in  the  spring,  with  mosquitos  in  the  coast  country, 
quite  enough  to  be  interesting. 

We  now  take  up  the  "Western  Hemisphere,"  al- 
lowing Texas  to  be  a  little  world. 

In  the  arid  belt  lying  west  of  what  we  Have  at- 
tempted to  describe,  lies  the  great  cattle  ranges  of  the 
state,  and  from  the  coast  to  her  northern  boundary. 
The  indigeneous  grasses  of  western  Texas  are  many, 
and  very  nutritious,  having  fattening  qualities  of  blue 
grass  or  timothy,  but  they  have  to  struggle  for  life, 
against  weeds,  where  the  ranges  are  eaten  out  by 
overstocking.  Big  pastures  having  been  fenced  in  by 
private  enterprise,  has  preserved  the  grass  to  some 
extent,  as  individuals  look  after  their  interests,  in  not 
overstocking.  Within  the  last  decade,  irrigation  has 
attracted  the  people,  and  caused  them  to  see  its  great 
value,  about  one-third  of  this  vast  area  is  farming  land, 
provided  it  can  be  reached  with  water.  Several  self- 
flowing  canals  and  ditches  have  been  made,  and  many 
pumping  plants  installed,  in  this  arid  region.  They 
lie  west  of  the  Norther  (north  wind)  belt>  and  are 
almost  immune  from  freezes,  which  fact,  makes  that 
section  ideal  for  farming,  taking  climate  as  a  factor. 

Now  we  will  "talk  about  our  neighbors."     Many 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  183 

Texans  don't  know,  that  one  of  the  hardest  fought 
battles  that  ever  occurred  on  Texas  soil,  was  fought 
by  a  few  ragged  Missourians,  under  command  of  Col. 
Donophin,  in  1846.  This  occurred  right  where  the  city 
of  El  Paso  is  now  situated.  This  was  on  his  march 
to  Mexico  to  join  Gen.  Scott.  You  will  find  the  par- 
ticulars of  this  in  Col.  Ralph  Emerson  Twitchel's 
history  of  the  Spanish  and  American  occupation  of 
New  Mexico.  We  think  that  Texas  historians  Lave 
taken  too  much  for  granted,  that  this  piece  of  history 
is  embraced  in  the  Mexican  war  history.  It  was  fought 
on  Texas  soil,  by  Missourians,  not  yet  under  the  im- 
mediate command  of  General  Scott.  We  all  know  that 
Colonel  Donophin  was  fighting  the  northern  division 
of  the  Mexican  army,  but  Texas  was  more  directly 
interested  in  this  fight.  Colonel  Donophin  was  a 
thousand  miles  from  any  base  of  suppliesJBanCTOft 

The  great  statesman,  Thomas  H.  Benton  of  Mis- 
souri, had  his  "ear  to  the  ground"  listening  for  Don- 
ophin, but  he  had  gone  too  far  from  him,  to  get  any 
tidings.  The  storms  and  prairie  fires  had  obliterated 
Donophin 's  trail  across  the  great  plains,  and  when 
this  fight  occurred,  he  had  no  "carrier  dove"  to  tell 
where  he  was.  He  pulled  down  the  bars  of  northern 
Mexico,  and  marching  in  on  a  dirt  road,  strewn  with 
cactus,  far  out  into  the  interior  of  Mexico  where  he 
met  General  Scott.  His  men  were  almost  in  a  nude 
condition,  but  they  were  as  gay  as  colts,  and  each  one 
of  them  felt  that  he  was  as  big  a  man  as  Gen.  Scott, 


184  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

on  a  basis  of  American  pride.  Hence,  the  saying  that 
you  have  to  show  a  Missourian,  that  he  can't  do  any- 
thing. 

The  early  settlers  of  Texas,  almost  perfectly  typify, 
early  colonial  life  in  Virginia,  varying  in,  or  under 
the  auspices  of  which  the  undertaking  was  made.  The 
early  colonial  life  in  Virginia  were  under  the  ban  of 
imperial  surveillance,  and  all  their  first  charters  of 
institutions,  that  appeared  too  liberal,  to  the  King 
of  Great  Britain,  were  revoked,  putting  them  back 
under  the  yoke  of  truckling  subjects.  The  analogy 
of,  or  between  the  settling  of  the  two  great  states, 
relate  more  to  the  character  of  the  people.  In  fact 
many  of  the  first  settlers  of  Texas,  were  the  same 
people,  or  descended  straight  from  them.  Their  in- 
dependence and  hospitality  were  an  "Old  Virginia" 
product.  Linking  them  back  through  all  the  states, 
to  Virginia,  the  first  Texans  simply  came  on  the  crest 
of  the  first  wave  west,  Kentucky  furnished  a  big 
quota,  with  their  old  "brindle"  rifles,  and  many  old 
Texans  are  yet  adepts  in  handling  a  corkscrew.  I 
hope  their  hoary  old  heads  may  think  kindly  of  this 
mention  of  them.  We  ask  the  readers  of  this  small 
effort,  to  have  patience  with  a  novice,  and  if  we  have 
failed  to  interest  you  it  will  be  a  failure  of  truth,  as  we 
saw  it,  by  bitter  experience,  and  pleasure  mixed. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  18S 


Old  Spanish  Fort 

In  the  northern  portion  of  Texas,  are  the  plain  ev- 
idences of  prehistoric  settlement.  About  25  miles 
below  Ft.  McKavett,  which  is  situated  at  the  head 
springs  of  the  San  Saba  River,  stands  an  old  fort, 
called  the  Old  Spanish  Fort.  There  is  no  history  of  it, 
as  to  who  built  it,  or  when  it  was  built.  It  was  well 
constructed  for  defense,  being  built  immediately  on 
the  bank  of  the  San  Saba  River,  and  on  the  east  bank, 
having  a  large  body  of  water  on  the  west  side,  prob- 
ably a  mile  long,  and  75  to  100  yards  wide,  with  con- 
siderable depth.  There  was  no  approach  to  the  Fort, 
under  the  banks  of  the  river.  To  the  east,  there  was 
an  open  space  of  land,  covering  probably  a  half 
mile,  and  perfectly  level. 

They  had  some  kind  of  cannon,  and  two  diamonds, 
well  built,  at  each  end  of  the  Fort  wall,  upon  which 
their  pieces  were  mounted.  Curiosity  led  some  people 
to  dig  down  at  those  diamonds,  where  they  found 
hundreds  of  round  iron  balls,  something  like  the  size 
of  an  orange,  that  they  had  used  in  the  field  pieces. 
The  wall  of  the  Fort  was  about  12  feet  high,  and 
the  inner  buildings  were  joined  to  the  main  wall  and 
facing  in  from  it.  The  Fort  would  accommodate  200 
people.  It  was  all  built  of  stone. 


186  BANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

The  people  that  occupied  the  Fort,  was  an  agri- 
cultural people,  as  the  plain  marks  of  ditches  were 
to  be  seen,  within  a  half  mile  of  the  Fort,  that  they 
used  for  irrigating.  We  say  they  were  Spaniards, 
but  other  evidence  doesn't  prove  it.  When  the  Span- 
iards occupied  Santa  Fe,  New  Mexico,  they  found 
seven  old  towns,  extending  south,  from  Santa  Fe,  in 
the  direction  of  Texas,  and  the  history  of  the  people 
that  built  them  was  never  learned,  and  is  not  known 
to-day.  The  structure  of  the  old  forts  in  New  Mexico, 
are  almost  exactly  the  same  as  that  in  Texas.  The 
people  of  Texas  were  accustomed  to  say,  and  think, 
that  the  northwestern  portion  of  Texas  was  a  new 
country,  but  the  facts  stand  out,  that  it  was  the  oldest 
settled  part  of  North  America.  The  fact  of  their  having 
cannon,  doesn't  prove  them  Spaniards.  There  were 
great  sea  pirates,  who  superseded  General  Lafitte, 
and  by  centuries.  They  could  have  had  this  island 
home,  which  was  secluded  from  all  Nations.  But, 
our  imagination  has  no  right  to  denominate  them  pi- 
rates. If  it  was  our  task  to  find  out  who  they  were, 
we  would  search  Ridpath's  History  of  the  World,  and 
look  for  missing  people  of  all  Nations,  when,  and  how 
they  disappeared.  There  are  legends  telling  of  those 
people,  but  not  a  word  in  authentic  history. 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  187 


Old  San  Antonio  Road 

The  old  San  Antonio  Road  is,  or  was,  the  first  land- 
mark in  Texas  and  is  older  than  Texas.  It  was  made 
by  the  Spaniards  from  Nacogdoches,  on  the  Sabine 
River,  to  the  old  city  of  San  Antonio.  It  crossed  the 
Colorado  River  at  Bastrop.  Bastrop  was  a  place  of 
rest  for  the  old  Spanish  traders  crossing  their  do- 
minion from  Mexico  to  Louisiana.  I  think  the  old 
road  was  called  Gochirs  trace  by  the  first  white  men 
that  came  to  that  new  country.  That  old  road  was 
latitude,  longitude,  meridian  and  compass  to  travelers, 
so  far  as  geographical  reckonings  were  concerned.  The 
noted  sea  pirate,  General  Lafitte,  on  his  island,  now 
called  Galveston,  made  his  reckonings  by  land  in  case 
of  invasion  from  the  water,  by  that  old  road.  It 
marked  the  northern  settlements  of  the  Spaniards 
and  made  a  safe  retreat  to  "no-man's  land."  No 
American  surveyor's  chain  had  ever  played  "stick- 
stuck"  in  that  vast  country. 

We  think  Texas  should  embalm  that  old  road  in 
her  history. 

The  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  have 
marked  the  Santa  Fe  Trail  from  Independence,  Mis- 
souri, to  Santa  Fe,  New  Mexico,  by  erecting  beautiful 
monuments  of  stone  along  the  ancient  trail  that  led 


188  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY. 

to  western  civilization.  We  read  the  following  in- 
scription on  one  of  those  monuments:  "By  the 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  Marking  the 
Old  Santa  Fe  Trail." 


RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY.  189 


A  New  Texas 

Since  my  absence  from  the  State,  of  about  thirty 
years,  and  returning  to  San  Antonio  about  a  month 
ago,  I  find  conditions  quite  changed.  In  the  days, 
when  Adams  &  Weeks  ran  a  mule  team  train  from 
San  Antonio  to  all  Western  points,  with  supplies 
for  Government  Posts,  requiring  about  two  months' 
time  to  get  to  Fort  Bliss,  where  El  Paso  now  is,  via 
the  head  of  Devils  River,  Howards  Well,  old  Fort 
Lancaster  and  Fort  Davis. 

I  came  in  this  trip,  on  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway 
from  El  Paso,  and  crossed  the  Pecos  on  a  bridge  span- 
ning that  ' '  Gulf, ' '  perhaps  the  most  wonderful  struc- 
ture of  its  kind  in  the  United  States. 

I  thought  of  Adams  &  Weeks,  and  wondered  if  this 
railroad  company  had  consulted  them  as  to  ''right  of 
way. ' ' 

"Old  timers"  will  "hark  back"  with  me,  when 
Howard  &  Tivey  of  San  Antonio  had  the  contract  to 
survey  the  German  colony  land,  for  the  Fredericks- 
burg  colony,  and  with  pleasure  we  note  the  splendid 
achievement  of  their  effort,  in  building  from  a  wil- 
derness to  to  the  most  prosperous  people  in  Texas. 
Last  month,  they  got  railroad  connection  with  San 
Antonio. 


190  RANGERS  AND  SOVEREIGNTY 

Railroads  gave  us  Interstate  Commerce,  and  when 
the  Panama  Canal  is  finished  we  will  share  interna- 
tional commerce  with  Latin  nations,  without  crossing 
the  continent  to  get  to  it.  Look  out  for  a  port  and 
harbor  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  San  An- 
tonio is  nearly  in  the  right  place. 


